Fairy Tail: Dealer Arc
by marcus00721
Summary: Months after the "Darkness Rises", everything returns to normal. But, the forces of a greater evil begin to rise up, and the ultimate test of friendship and family will begin. Will Fairy Tail, with the help of White Eclipse, and Twilight Zone be able to stand up to this evil?
1. Synopsis

Previously, on Fairy Tail:

Season 1 (Flames of Friendship): (Begins after the Grand Magic Games arc from the anime/manga) While hunting down a dark guild that managed to defeat Erza, Team Natsu had an encounter with a rival guild, White Eclipse. After defeating the lesser members of the dark guild, they encountered a scared, injured little girl. The girl soon passed out after a confrontation with Natsu. After a stores of events, the girl, Cynthia Rose, became the newest member of Fairy Tail. Little did they know, the Council was out to get her. A promise between Cynthia and Wendy ended up with Wendy becoming the Omega Flame Sky dragon not too long after. After that, Wendy and Cynthia went on a job together, only to do battle with the Council's top three captains, Aloy, Odin, and Correll, in attempt to protect Cynthia from them. Little dod they all know that Cynthia's father, Aiden Viscard, and an S class mage from Tartaros, Maggie Solfatara, were watching both Cynthia and Wendy, and even aided the two girls in their escape from the Council from afar. Shortly after that, an intense duel between White Eclipse and Fairy Tail ensued, 10 on 10, and it was watched by every guild in Fiore. The duel ended in a draw, but it was ultimately Fairy Tail's victory. After celebrations Wendy's birthday finally came around but that was the beginning of the end. Cynthia was kidnapped by the top members of Tataros and Silent Sanctum, and Fairy Tail almost most their lives. Luckily, Chelia and Jura arrived just in time to save them. The Council arrived shortly after to arrest Cynthia, but they soon realized that Cynthia was no longer there, and Aiden popped up on a large lacrima screen, challenging Fairy Tail to see if they could rescues Cynthia before she caused ruin to Fiore, who quickly accepted. At this time, the Council decided to unleash Cobra to kill Cynthia. At the same time, White Eclipse decided to send a small team to the location Aiden had provided, and with the assistance of Blue Pegasus, they managed to reach the location rather quickly. Cynthia's power was used for a creation dubbed the Omega Fire Cannon, whose power was able to destroy 30 miles worth of space at 20% power. The two teams of Fairy Tail and White Eclipse managed to defeat a few Tartaros and Silent Sanctum mages, and destroyed the cannon while Natsu and Wendy had to deal with Cobra, who was inches away from victory, but stopped due to Kinana convincing him not to. Only a few feet away from the room Cynthia was in, Natsu and Wendy ran into Silent Sanctum's Ace, Aloysius, who dominated he two in battle. Upon seeing Wendy hurt, Cynthia quickly lost control of herself. Natsu and Wendy were saved by Gildarts, Jura, Sidney, and Chelia. The first three stayed behind to deal with Aloysius while Natsu, Wendy, and Chelia went on to save Cynthia, only to find that her emotions had overpowered her, and she was nothing but a killing machine. Natsu and Chelia were trapped, and could only watch as Wendy and Cynthia battled it out, while Wendy tried to bring her friend back. After a mixture of fighting and talking, Cynthia regained control of herself after exclaiming she was a Fairy Tail wizard. This didn't last long as Aiden forcibly removed her lacrima, killing her in the process, but she held on long enough to bestow Wendy with the Flames of Friendship, which Wendy used to enter Dragon Force and defeat Aiden. Days later, White Eclipse, and Blue Pegasus attended the funeral Fairy Tail held for Cynthia, only to find that the girl had been brought back to life due to Chelia and Jura. While they celebrated, Silent Sanctum is revealed to be led by the grandson of White Eclipse's master, Jikan Calium, and Tataros is beginning to plot.

Season 2 (Darkness Rises): Six months have passed after Flames of Friendship, and things are relatively normal in Fiore. The only thing different is the creation of the two new guilds, Cosmic Star and Twilight Zone. In the background of these good times, Jellal and Meredy are captured by Silent Sanctum, and witnessed the rebirth of an evil Ultear, and Tartaros revives the dark guild Grimoire Heart, literally reviving Zancrow, Azuma, and Hades. They also revive Gray and Lyon's former teacher and Wizard Saint candidate, Ur. Grimoire Heart is eventually defeated thanks to the efforts of all the guilds in Fiore, and peace returns. But, once again, Jellal and Meredy are confronted by Silent Sanctum once more. They make a trade; Ultear is returned and Jellal releases Siegrain, who takes over the Magic Council. Weeks after this, the Grand Magic Games begin, and not too long after the games star Cosmic Star begins to cheat, using various techniques to ensure victory, though they didn't always work. During the Games, Ruika, the celestial mage in Tartaros, stole Aries from Lucy, although that wasn't her target. In the end, Cosmic Star seemingly won the Grand Magic Games, but when it was revealed that they cheated, they were disqualified (which led to them disbanding) and White Eclipse won. After this celebration, Tartaros made their move, destroying Lamia Scale, the Council building and kidnapped Lucy, along with a few other members from White Eclipse and Twilight Zone. The three guilds (and members from a few others) made their way to Tartaros to rescue their members, but things went askew as Aiden's new assistant, Hyde (or Dark Phantom) interfered with the most of the battles that occurred, without fear that Daityas (Tartaros' guild master and king of Hell) would deal with him. After the battle was done, the angels from heaven descended down, explaining how they were going to rid the world of darkness, which they perceived to be the legal mages. A large battle took place in Crocus, but in the end, everyone rallied together and managed to defeat the angels and their army. While celebrating, two forces plot in the shadows. Aiden and Hyde begin making plans for Cynthia, while Zeref begins to talk about the future of Fiore, and how the Black Dragon will soon make it's return...


	2. Chapter 1: Introduction

X792, several months later after the angel incident. Peace has returned to Fiore, and not a single thing has gone wrong since. Inside the always excitable Fairy Tail guild, the members were celebrating the one year anniversary of Cynthia's joining the guild. "Happy anniversary, Cynthia!" The entire guild shouted, streamers and confetti flying around the interior of the building, along with a large banner that said "Happy anniversary!" as if saying it wasn't enough.

Cynthia's eyes sparkled, lighting up with excitement and joy as she looked at the people she considered to he her family. "Y-You guys...!" Cynthia was speechless; she was too happy to even form a coherent sentence. "I-I'm so touched! You went through all of this for me?!"

"That's right!" Lucy replied with a large grin, her hands clasping together. "Like it?"

"I love it!" Cynthia squealed, unable to remove her eyes from all the decorations.

"You better..." Evergreen said while fanning herself. "You have no idea how long it took to set this up..."

"Is that why I wasn't allowed in the guild for those few days...?" Cynthia then tapped her chin as she looked at Evergreen. "I thought it was because I took that S class mission and-" She immediately stopped when she realized that Mirajane was glancing at her, causing her to change the subject. "I meaaaan thank you all so much!"

"She did what?" Mirajane's eye twitched; she had told the little girl constantly that she wasn't allowed to even go upstairs.

"Mira-nee..." Lisanna started, attempting to calm the incoming storm by patting her elder sister on the shoulder, giving a slight smile. "Let's just enjoy the celebration for now, okay?"

"We also baked a cake for today," Erza said with twinkles in her eyes.

"It's a strawberry cake..." Gray said while exhaling. It took me, flame head, and Laxus to hold her back from eating all of it..."

"And Natsu got the worst of it..." Happy continued as he pointed the half conscious Natsu sitting on a chair.

"I don't claim responsibility got what happens to you when you get in between cake and I," Erza replied while crossing her arms.

"Who needs cake...?" A half drunk Cana slurred as she held a glass of beer up. "A glass of beer is all you need at a party!"

"I second that!" Makarov grinned as he too held a glass of beer up.

"Thirded!" Gildarts exclaimed as he leaned back on a chair, his cheeks tinted pink from alcohol consumption.

"Wrong type of party you guys..." Lucy sighed somewhat.

"Hm..." Cynthia began to look around before she was suddenly tackle hugged to the ground by none other than Wendy. "Gah!"

"Happy anniversary, Cynthia!" Wendy exclaimed as she grinned.

"Wendy! Carla!" Cynthia's already great mood improved tenfold upon the sight of her best friend.

"Sorry we're late..." Carla began. "We had a little difficultly getting over here, but it's nothing."

"Now almost everyone's here, surprisingly..." Laxus said as he stayed on the second floor, eyeing the festivities from above.

"The only one who isn't it Gajeel," Patherlily replied, finishing up Laxus' statement.

"I can't believe he'd miss my one year..." Cynthia poured somewhat before shrugging it off.

"I heard he went training with that diamond mage from White Eclipse," Natsu said with a slight groan. "Serene or something like that..."

"Selene!" Wendy corrected Natsu.

"His loss, I suppose..." Levy said with a slight sigh. "I just hope they don't end up hurting each other too much, you know how he gets sometimes..."

"They'll be fine, Levy," Mirajane said with slight smile.

"Oh, enough about those two!" Cynthia shouted as she eyed the incoming strawberry cake brought in by Laki and Max. "Let's have some cake!"

"You can't have too much!" Lucy exclaimed while waving her finger sternly. "You know how you are with sugar."

"Psssh..." Cynthia waved a dismissive hand. "I'll be fine! I haven't had sugar since yesterday!"

"Because that makes it all better..." Lucy sighed.

"Don't touch it until they set it down!" Macao said while crossing his arms, though he was talking more to Erza than he was Cynthia.

Laki and Max set the cake down, immediately taking a few steps back so they wouldn't be attacked by the two air lovers. "All yours!"

"Wait a moment..." Said Freed as he drew his sword. In the blink of an eye, Freed slashed his sword multiple times, cutting the large cake into even slices so everyone should be able to have a small piece. "There, every one might be able to have a piece."

"MINE." Cynthia shouted as she tackled the cake for a slice.

Elfman quickly swiped a slice before the little girl could reach it, and stuffed it in his mouth, grinning. "This cake is manly!"

"I'm glad everyone's having a good time..." Laxus said with a slight shrug while examining the S class mission board. "It's been awhile since I've taken one of these..."

While everyone was enjoying the festivities, Carla took a glance at Cynthia before her eyes widened. She was having another vision; it had been over an entire year since she had a vision of the future, and last time it was about Cynthia and Wendy. This time was no different. The surroundings were blurry, but Carla could see Cynthia with her flames constantly expanding around her, the same motion that she had made whenever she was losing control of her power. Nearby was Team Natsu, a female that held a striking resemblance to the little Omega Fire dragon, along with a male giving a dark laugh. Carla snapped back to reality before she could see anything else. "What...?"

"Is everything okay, Carla?" Wendy asked with a concerned tone as she held a plate with a slice of cake in her hands.

"Ah...yeah...!" Carla gave a quick nod; she was never one to share her visions immediately after having them. "I'm fine!"

In the shadows of Fairy Tail, Hyde merely watched the celebrations with a slight chuckle. "My, my...She's really bonded with those Wizards...So far, they're all just actors in my amazing script, and I cannot wait to see how well they perform their assigned roles..."

.

.

White Eclipse; the winner's of the Grand Magic Games, and now, the strongest guild in Fiore. Though, now being the strongest doesn't mean they let up on anything, especially with their new members; Clover, Asami, Shizuka, Almaz, and Marlene, who served as the bartender. Outside the guild, most of the members were on the ground, panting heavily as they tried to catch their breath. "God damn..." Takeru panted.

"Come on, we're not done yet," Reve said with a smirk as he motioned for the members to stand up.

"C-Can't we take a break, Nii-san...?" Syke asked with puppy dog eyes, hoping Reve would go with it since he did think of her as a little sister.

"Sorry, Skye," Reve started as the members groaned and stood up, shakily at that. "But we all have to prepare for next year's games!"

"We already won...!" Cygnus shouted.

"We almost didn't, though..." Kairi pointed out as she inwardly struggled to retain her balance.

"Exactly," Reve said with a nod. "Despite the cheating that may have occurred, they were strong, and nearly got everyone in one fell swoop. I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen again, even if I have to train you into the ground, understand?"

"We're no good if we can't even stand up straight..." Luke commented.

"Stop acting like a woman and stop complaining," Reve said while shaking his head at Luke. "Anyone else have any complaints?"

"No way!" Kuro nodded.

"No problem!" Zalen shouted.

"We're good here!" Waiston agreed.

"Then we're good," Reve grinned before pointing to the mountain behind White Eclipse. "Now, sprint up, and come back down. You have 45 minutes."

"That's a big mountain though..." Clover, the elemental make mage, said. "I'd assume it'd take us at least an hour to climb up..."

"Then you better get moving," Reve's grinned widened as he held a gun in the air, shooting off a starting bullet.

"He never lets us rest..." Takeru groaned somewhat.

"Ne," started Asami, the pink haired snow mage. "Our opponents won't let us rest, so it's better we get used to it here than the hard way, ne?"

"Yeah..." Takeru merely replied; he still wasn't a fan of being too social (though that was improving).

"I gotta get stronger..." Almaz said as he raced up the mountain, panting heavily. "That way I can show everyone I'm a true hero!"

"Move it, move it!" Reve shouted to the barely sprinting White Eclipse members.

On the balcony of White Eclipse, Calium merely watched as Reve "trained" the members. A slight smile appeared on his face at the sight of it. "Those brats are getting stronger, no doubt. " He then walked to his office. "Sidney's been out for a few months now, I wonder how things are going..."

.

.

Twilight Zone; runner up in the Grand Magic Games by only a small margin; second strongest guild in Fiore as a result. Unlike White Eclipse or Fairy Tail, nothing changed too much in the guild, with the exception of one new member: Alexine Keva, the therapeutic mage and healer.

"Sigh..." Melanie mumbled as she gazed out the window.

"Evanee and Rylo have been gone for awhile..." Flynn pointed out as he gazed on the job request board. "I hope she's getting the hang of that new magic..."

"It's been months, I'm sure she has..." Alexander said as he half paid attention to Flynn, and more attention to the map he was looking over; as it led to something more important to him.

Ceaser, who was cooking rice in the kitchen, walked out upon hearing the conversation. "They'll be fine, shorties!" Ceaser said as he patted Flynn on the head. He then looked out the window with Melanie and sighed. "I wonder what clouds taste like..."

"OI. CEASER! KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR FOOD!" Yelled Adacore, knowing the cinnamon haired mage had a horrible attention span.

"What?" Ceaser looked over to the rice he was now burning, just realizing he was only minutes away from burning the building down. "Sh-!" He quickly raced over to the oven, turning the eye off.

"...That's the 10th time this month..." Flynn sighed.

"Seems the pirate just can't keep his mind on one thing..." Tsami sighed as she brought a palm to her face.

"Hey, I'm not a pirate!" Ceaser shouted before noticing something out the corner of his working eye. "Oh, grapes!"

"...Oh my..." Alexine merely blinked, astounded by Ceaser's attention span; or lack thereof to be more precise.

.

.

A large building made up of cards stood tall in an unknown location. Inside the seemingly flimsy building was actually a high tech guild. Inside the main hall of this guild were several people, organized as they faced the master. There were 3 A class mages standing behind 3 S class mages, who were standing behind the SS class mage. "It's almost time..." The master said while shuffling a deck of cards, his arms spreading apart as the cards flew from the deck to his other hand flawlessly. "Are you all ready?"

A large, bulky male with tan skin nodded, giving a salute after. "Yes, sir, Mr. King!" This male was Club Strong; he's a bit dim witted, but when it comes to power, he can bring the house down.

"Ready as always," said a female with bright blue hair and eyes. She was slim, petite, and attractive. But she was very cold blooded; Diamond Ice.

"Ready, sire!" Shouted a mage with two different colors for his body; red and blue, and a battery pack displaying the currently empty charge. Spade Magnus.

"I'm sick and tired of waiting! Let's just take them out already!" Groaned the youngest of the group, about 13 years of age. Black spikey hair, and always unhappy expression. One of the S class mages; Jack Corvus.

A light blue haired female, older than Jack, shushed him. She was quite attractive herself, but she was also young compared to everyone else. Queen Tia, 17 years of age, and the second S class mage.

"You two, be quiet..." Whispered the pink haired woman in a long dress. She was probably the oldest aside from King. Heartless, S class mage.

The tallest, largest, and strongest member then turned around, his blue shades covering his eyes as he glanced at all the members. "Mr. King is about to speak. Unless you want to receive punishment, I suggest you keep your traps shut." Said Red Joker, the Ace of Dealer.

"Thank you, Joker." King nodded. "The time is almost upon us...we just need one more object before we can truly start our plan. With Tartaros, Grimoire Heart, and Silent Sanctum quiet, now is perfect."

"Hey, hey!" Spade exclaimed as he hopped up and down. "What is this item?"

"Spade, be quiet!" Heartless said with an icy cold glare, which caused Spade to quiet down.

"The item we need is a lacrima..." King said as he smirked.


	3. Chapter 2: Secret Planning

Aiden's fingers danced across a lacrima based keyboard. This small keyboard led to a larger machine; a much, much larger machine. A small grin found its way onto the mad scientist's face as the preparations were just about complete. "Just a few more minutes…" Aiden spoke aloud to himself, but Hyde was also present. "Just a few more minutes until we can shake things up a little bit, eh?"

Hyde let out a small chuckle as he paced back and forth. "Oh, yes…the script is going just the way I've written…the plot will soon begin to thicken."

"So, tell me, Hyde, how is my precious little girl?" Aiden asked, though he could barely contain the laughter building up from that sentence.

"Oh? The small little dragon seems to be doing quite well." Hyde replied with a slight nod, now resting his arm on his lance-like cane. "It has been over a year now since she's joined the Fairy Tail guild. As my plot says, it's only a matter of time before things fall into our hands…"

"Excellent…" Aiden nodded as he began to finalize the preparations on the machine. "I'm curious, Hyde…does your script have the scenario ready for if she blows up?"

Hyde stayed silent for just a mere two seconds before letting out a boisterous laugh. "My oh my! Don't tell me you actually doubt the brilliance of my plots?"

Aiden merely smirked at Hyde's response, turning around after. "That's all I needed to hear. The machine is ready!" Aiden then pressed a button, and the large machine let out a low whir type sound before it began to shake vigorously, nearly shaking the entire laboratory. A minute or so passed before the shaking died down, and the large machine now had a type of portal just a few feet above it. "I present to you, my Anima Machine!"

"Anima…" Hyde smirked slightly, his top hat covering his face. "Impressive…"

"You have the item, yes?" Aiden asked, raising a brow to double check to see if Hyde was organized before hopping in the portal.

"But of course I do," Hyde replied before jumping into the Anima portal.

After Hyde jumped in the portal, it closed. Aiden didn't seem worried though, he had faith in Hyde and his superb abilities. "Heh…Watch out Earthland, we're about to turn you upside down…"

.

.

Era, home of the Magic Council. The Council's security has improved immensely since the attack months ago when Tartaros made their move. The only thing missing from the Council was the First Captain; and it had been that way for several months. Siegrain sat in his office in the same way a king would sit in his throne room. Before him were Correll, Odin, Lahar, Doranbolt, and Layanna. "I called you all here to make an announcement; one that will change the way we treat criminals."

"What would that be?" Odin asked with obvious curiosity.

"The Council Stronghold." Siegrain replied, and this brought interest and confusion from the captains and the guard.

"Council Stronghold?" Lahar blinked a few times before fixing his glasses. "What is it…?"

Siegrain merely smirked at the question; it was though he was just _waiting _for someone to ask. "Heh…I believe I'll leave the explaining to the one in charge of the Stronghold…our new Council Warden."

A male stepped into the room on cue, the light straying away from him, leaving his face and figure mostly a shadow. "A place where we make sure those criminals…yes…criminals…never see the light of day again. And there is the perfect execution process…On Siegrain's orders, I've been told the first person it is used on is the assassin that has been plaguing Magnolia for months now…"

"And another quick note…" Siegrain added in. "I advise you all to keep an eye on Fiore's End. I know Gran Doma enjoyed keeping a close eye on the little girl, and I can see why. If she does anything that could endanger the people of Fiore, I want her here, understand?" The guards nodded, understanding Siegrain completely. It looks as though the Council's eye on Fairy Tail will be just as watchful as before. "Also…one last thing…keep an eye on White Eclipse as well…and if possible…that Twilight Zone guild."

.

.

"Hrm…" Spade walked around with his hands behind his back, appearing to be in deep thought.

"Oi, Spade…"! Diamond shouted in a demanding tone. "Get your ass over here now!"

"No need to yell…" Spade sighed before walking over to the cold blooded ice princess, crossing his arms as he gave a slight look of annoyance. "What could you possibly want NOW, Diamond Ice?" Spade said her name in a condescending manner; he knew Diamond hated it when people called her by her full name, let alone with such a tone of voice.

"You will respect your superiors!" Diamond shouted as a vein popped from her forehead.

"You know…" Spade started as he continued to push Diamond's buttons, a smirk now appearing on his face since he knew he was getting under her. "You're quite the mystery, Diamond Ice. You're so hot heated, yet cold blooded at the same time…!"

"WHY YOU…!" Diamond coiled her hands around Spade's neck and began to strangle him in a comical fashion, leaving the multi colored mage to flail comically as he gasped for air.

"What the hell are those two doing…?" Jack Corvus asked while tilting his head. "Idiots…"

"That's enough," Said Joker in a stern tone as he literally appeared out of nowhere, causing Diamond and Spade to straighten up. "Diamond, I expected you to be able to handle the simple task of telling Spade what his assignment was…"

"I-I…" Diamond began to shake; she hated getting on Joker's bad side.

Joker held his palm out, creating a large red sphere; without a word, he fired off the sphere that traveled at a blinding speed. Neither Spade nor Jack could see the sphere travel, all they saw was the sphere exploding on contact with Diamond, sending the mage flying into the nearest wall, already in critical condition. "Next time, you will do what I tell you to, or this WILL happen again. Now pick yourself up and go to the infirmary."

"Y-Y-Yes…Joker…" Diamond winced as she just lay on the ground for a few moments; nobody dared to go against Joker's orders. Diamond had to do this on her own.

"Now…" Joker turned to Spade, who was still shaking in his boots. "Stop shaking."

"A-Aye…!" Spade nodded, and willed his body to stop shivering from fear.

"Your assignment…" Joker started as he handed Spade a lacrima. "You will go out with Club Strong and use this lacrima to scan the country of Fiore. This lacrima will give us an overview of where everything is."

"Is that is? Ha, easy…!" Spade then stopped as he looked at Joker with a "what" expression. "I gotta take Strong…?"

"Don't whine," Joker immediately barked. "You will leave tomorrow afternoon, understand?"

"Yes, Joker…" Spade nodded and walked off, resisting the urge to sigh because he knew Joker would hear him and he would end up like Diamond.

"Ha…" Jack merely chuckled to himself before walking off, finding some entertainment in that little scene.

(I can see Joker is as ruthless as ever…) Heartless thought to herself as she watched the entire scene.

.

.

Edolas; a world without magic. Has been a world without magic for many years now. The reforms King Jellal ordered have been more or less a success, and the people couldn't have ever dreamed that they would be happier. In the castle of Edolas, Jellal, formally known as Mystogan by his former Fairy Tail companions, was overlooking the balcony, gazing into the sky as he thought to himself. "It's been quite a bit of time…" Mystogan sighed. "I wonder how things have been going for them…" It occurred to him that he could go have a trip to see for himself, but he could never do that, as he had a job here as the King of Edolas.

In another section of the castle, the former Fairy Hunter, Erza Knightwalker, made her rounds. Her hair had grown back to its original length after she cut it off. "Everything seems alright…" She mumbled to herself.

"Erza Knightwalker, I presume…?" Asked Hyde as he appeared from the shadows.

Upon hearing the unfamiliar voice, the Edolas knight immediately stood on guard as her muscles tensed; she was ready for combat. "Who are you?"

"I pose you no threat…" Hyde replied as he walked around the female, moving his gaze up and down. "Just as the script wrote…weak, frail…boring…"

"Excuse me?!" Knightwalker nearly exploded in anger, glaring daggers at the Dark Phantom.

"Now, now…no need to become so defensive, my dear…" Hyde said as he let out a slight chuckle. "I've come to give you something you've been missing for quite some time now…Plus, I have a proposition for you."

Knightwalker raised a brow, seeming to relax, but she kept her guard up in case Hyde tried something. "And what would that be?"

"My plot requires you and only you…and for has been written, you are going to need a particular weapon…" As Hyde spoke, a magic circle appeared; this immediately made Knightwalker suspicious. How was Hyde using magic in a world where that didn't exist!? A few seconds later, and the magic circle revealed Knightwalker's former weapon; the Ten Commandments.

A look of shock painted Knightwalker's face as she glanced at her former weapon, now in shock. "What is this…Who are you!?"

"I am merely a script writer in need of actors…" Hyde replied as his top hat covered his face, but his grin was visible. Knightwalker paused for a few seconds before reaching out for the Ten Commandments Spear, and just as she did, a dark surge of electricity flowed through her body.


	4. Chapter 3: Edolas Showdown

A large explosion destroyed a large portion of Edolas castle; this immediately prompted the castle guards to rush over to the area. A group of guards turned the corner, only to be blown back by another explosion. "GAH!"

"What's going on?!" Mystogan yelled as he ran down a corridor with Coco by his side.

"I-I don't know...!" Coco replied, unable to help but speed past Mystogan.

The castle rumbled as another explosion occurred. Mystogan increased his sprint as a result. "Dammit! Where's Knightwalker?!" Mystogan turned the corner, only to see Coco and Sugarboy fly back into the nearest wall. "What?!"

Knightwalker swung her Ten Commandments spear around, an evil smirk on her face. Her hair created a shadow over her eyes, but it was clear that the Fairy Hunter had indeed returned. "Finally joining the party, "King"?"

"What is the meaning of this?!" Mystogan yelled; he had so many questions at the moment.

"I'm doing what I've always meant to...~" Knightwalker replied with a smirk.

"This is absurd!" Mystogan exclaimed. "Stop this right now!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Knightwalker merely replied as a sadistic smirk curved onto her lips, the Ten Commandments Spear now illuminating as it began to change once more; the form now the Vacuum Spear. "Mel-Force!" After Knightwalker shouted this, intensely powerful gust of wind shot out towards Mystogan, though the gust of wind utterly destroyed the walls and created a destroyed pathway. Mystogan had no time to react to the incoming gust of wind, so it slammed into him, sending him through the nearest wall with no trouble.

"D-Dammit…!" Mystogan groaned, as he laid in the pile of rubble, trying to pick himself up.

"Like, whoa, what's going on with Knightwalker!?" Hughes questioned as he helped Mystogan up.

"I don't know, but I indeed to find out…" Mystogan replied with a low tone of voice. He started to run once again until he remembered something; his eyes widened with fear now at a worst case scenario that ran its way through his head. "No…!"

In a different section of the castle, members Edolas Fairy Tail looked around with curious and fearful (for some members such as Natsu Draigon) expressions. "Oi, what the hell is going on around here?!" Lucy Ashley screamed at those who served in the castle began to ran away. No one was answering her, as they were all interested in saving their own hides, but she could tell something dangerous was happening. Angered, the short haired blonde grabbed the nearest guard and yanked him over forcefully. "You! Explain what's going on!"

The guard flailed, afraid that this little hold up would cost him his life. He figured the sooner he answered the sooner he'd be let go "K-K-Knightwalker's lost it…!"

"K-Knightwalker…!?" Ashley's eyes widened. "What the hell's gotten into her?!" She threw the guard down, now sprinting in the direction the people were running away from.

"Where is that idiot going?!" Edolas Levy asked as Ashley ran off.

"She's…S-She's going to get herself h-hurt…!" Dragion exclaimed as he began to panic.

"We have to go after her…" Edolas Elfman mumbled.

Knightwalker continued her destruction through the castle, her smirk only growing wider and wider. "I've missed this. I cannot believe my counterpart convinced me to stray away from this path…"

"Yes, Erza Scarlet is quite the nuisance, don't you agree?" Hyde asked as he watched Knightwalker enjoy herself from the sidelines. "Wouldn't you just love to have the chance to eradicate her from Earthland?"

"From Earthland…?" Knightwalker pondered the thought for a moment before her sadistic smirked turned into an ear to ear grin. "That idea sounds lovely…"

"Hey!" Shouted Ashley as she reached Knighwalker and Hyde. She didn't recognize Hyde, so her attention immediately shifted over to him. "Who the hell are you and what did you do to Knightwalker?!"

"Oh, what have we here?" Hyde asked as he tilted his hat up to glance at Ashley. "Hm…You must be Earthland Lucy's counterpart…"

"Answer my question, you bastard, otherwise you're in for an ass kicking!" Ashley yelled as she took a step forward, but she stopped when Knightwalker made a slight movement.

"Oh yes, quite the opposite indeed…" Hyde chuckled a tiny bit as he tilted his top hat back up. "So abrasive…"

"Tch…" Ashley would've made a move, but she had been in Knightwalker's sights. It was only a matter of time until the hunter took her prey now.

"As for the question…" Hyde began as he began to walk forward, but stayed behind Knightwalker. "I simply showed Knightwalker that she doesn't have to walk down the path that was forced upon her. She chose the path of the evil Fairy Hunter on her own accord, yes? Why can't she stay on that path? All because some soft hearted scarlet haired female told her not to? I think not…"

Ashley narrowed her eyes as Hyde spoke, finding his explanation to be the stupidest thing she's ever heard. She opened her mouth to speak, but she noticed Mystogan, Byro, Coco, Sugarboy, and Hughes coming from the corridor around the corner, while Edolas Fairy Tail ended up turning the corner that was behind her. "Anyone else hear what this asshole just said!? Who the hell does this guy thing he is!?"

"I am the script writer, of course…" Hyde replied as a dark smirk curved onto his lips. "Knightwalker…there's no need for this female in my script."

Upon hearing the words Hyde spoke, Knightwalker twirled her spear around, a bright light appearing around it once more as she changed it into her Velocity Spear. "Don't move…don't utter a sound…" Knightwalker whispered as she vanished in a blur; no one could keep up with her movements. Within the next second, she appeared behind Lucy Ashley in a position as though she just finished a slash. And that she had done. Ashley froze in place, her eyes widened, though hers weren't the only ones. Everyone but Hyde had their eyes widen in shock. Ashley's torso was covered in a dark shade of crimson from the deep chest wound Knightwalker made with her spear, and she couldn't even utter a sound, just as Knightwalker had said. "You have been caught, my prey…" With that, Ashley fell over lifelessly with a thud, a pool of blood forming around her body. Nobody made a sound after; they were trying to believe what they just witnessed.

"Excellent work, Knightwalker…You are a fine actress indeed…" Hyde gave a slow applaud for Knightwalker's actions. "This plot will move along swimmingly…"

"L-Lucy…" Mystogan was frozen, he couldn't move a muscle, and neither could anyone else around.

"It appears your performance has shocked our audience…" Hyde grinned, before pulling out his cane. He then tapped the floor with said cane, causing the floor to crumble beneath the Edolas castle guard and Edolas Fairy Tail, sending them plummeting to the floors below. "I don't wish to spoil them…Now then…where is this Anima Machine? I know there is one in this castle."

"This way," Knightwalker said, leading Hyde to the Anima Machine in the depths of the castle. Upon reaching the machine, Hyde began to fiddle with the controls, turning the machine on. Just like the one Aiden had created, it had to warm up before it could create the portal between Edolas and Earthland.

"This may take a while…" Hyde sighed somewhat, tapping his foot impatiently on the ground. A few minutes did pass, and the portal opened, much to his delight. "Ah, wonderful!"

"S-Stop…!" A wounded Mystogan barely managed to shout. The stave mage limped forward, one hand on his arm as he desperately tried to stop Knightwalker and Hyde from making their escape.

"Ah, ah…interrupting a plot in progress is terribly rude…" Hyde wagged his finger in a condescending and disapproving manner. First, Knightwalker jumped into the portal, followed by Hyde.

"Wait!" Mystogan pleaded, rushing over to the portal, but before he could even prepare himself to jump, the machine exploded, sending him flying back a few yards, hitting the ground on his back. The last thing he saw was a large could of dark smoke before he finally passed out.

.

.

Luke and Skye strolled into Magnolia, the pair looking around for a particular shop. Luke rubbed the back of his head as he glanced around, trying to remember his way around the town since he had a bad sense of direction. "Where'd you say this shop was again…?"

"In the center of the town!" Skye replied with an energetic attitude. "We have to hurry up, too! I don't want Erza grabbing any of those weapons or armor before I get a chance to!" With that, Skye then changed her walk into a run, leaving Luke in the dust.

"Ack…W-Wait…!" Luke hurried alongside Skye so he wouldn't lose her, get lost, and then have to pay for it later. He panted somewhat as he caught up with Skye, who was just in front of the door. "At least give a guy a little warning before you just speed off like that…"

Skye gave a sheepish smile before rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry…" She and Luke then walked inside the store, and even though Luke showed little to know interest in the weaponry he saw, Skye was more than interested. "W-Whoa…"

"They sure have a lot of stuff here…" He glanced at a particularly sharp sword before taking a few steps back. "Agh…I feel like I could cut myself just by staring at that thing for too long…" Skye was too enraptured by the armor and weapon set she laid her eyes on to even reply to Luke. It was a set of Jade armor, and it looked quite powerful at that. Skye's eyes slowly wandered down to the price tag, which read in big bold letters. "250,000 jewel" and Skye then realized why it was in the window of the store, and why people were just looking at it and not buying. Her face went pale as she dropped to her knees, and her spirit comically rose from her head as she did so. Luke turned around; curious to see why Skye was acting the way she did until he saw the price on the armor. "TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND JEWELS?!"

"Two…Two hundred and fifty thousand…" Skye sighed defeatedly as she stood up.

"How much do you have…?" Luke asked as he tilted his head.

"45,000" Skye replied with a heavy sigh.

Luke quickly checked his pockets, hoping whatever amount he had combined with Skye's would be enough. "40,000…" Luke sighed. "There's no way…"

"Maybe if I sell some of my blades…" Skye began as she opened up an archive of her weapons, but Luke shook his head.

"No…it's not worth it, Skye…" Luke merely replied.

"But I have to get it before someone else does!" Skye yelled towards the copy mage.

"It doesn't look like anyone's going to be able to buy that thing soon…let's just go back, okay?" Luke said while starting towards the door. Skye sighed, and followed Luke out of the store.

.

.

Fairy Tail was still as noisy as ever, always showing no signs of calming down unless otherwise. Lucy looked over the job request board, as she had to pay her rent within the next week; a concern that always seemed to haunt her in one way or another. "Hm…"

"Hey, Lucy!" Natsu called out to the celestial mage, walking over to her with Happy by his side.

Lucy turned around to see who it was who called her name, a bright smile now appearing on her face. "Oh! Natsu!"

"Lookin' for a job?" Natsu asked.

"Mhm…I have to pay my rent this month, so I need a few jobs." Lucy nodded.

"Then let us help!" Natsu gave a slight grin.

"Aye!" Happy said.

"I know I can always count on you two," Lucy gave another nod before picking a job off the board, scanning it quickly. The first thing that caught her attention was the amount of jewels, 70,000, just enough to pay her rent. "This one's perfect, let's go!" Lucy then grabbed Natsu's wrist and dragged him out of the guild, Happy flying just behind them.

"There they go again…" Cynthia gave a slight giggle before turning to deal with her own business.

.

.

Spade and Strong have entered Fiore, now walking around with the lacrima Joker had entrusted to them. Spade groaned, not liking the idea of being in unfamiliar territory. "Couldn't Joker have asked Jack or Queen to do this…? I hate being in places I don't know about…"

"But…Joker ordered you to do it…" Strong pointed out. "He could've asked a higher up, yeah, but that means he has some faith in you, right!?"

"Or maybe he just hates me…" Spade replied. "You didn't see what he did to Diamond, did ya? Nearly killed her…I know he's a heartless bastard and all but at least show some members a BIT of decency…"

"One time he beat me for eating the last strawberry pie…" Strong said as he poked his fingers together.

"You're an idiot…" Spade brought his palm to his face, sighing heavily. "You know he'll literally kill for those!"

"I couldn't help myself! It was calling to me!" Strong protested.

"No it wasn't! That was Queen!" Spade groaned. "Ugh, why me…"

"Oh, stop complaining!" Strong exclaimed as he wrapped an arm around Spade's shoulder. "You got the second strongest guy in Dealer, this mission won't go wrong!"

"You may be one of the strongest…but you're not one of the smartest…" Spade mumbled.

"What was that?" Strong asked while raising a brow.

"Nothing…" Spade replied with a sigh. "Let's just get this over with so we can go home…"


	5. Chapter 4: Raging Cow & Lightning Twins!

Lucy, Natsu, and Happy stood at the base of a snowy mountain, the blizzard nearly blinding the trio. Lucy squinted as the snow sharply reduced her visibly. "I can hardly see…"

Natsu's body coated itself in flames, extending a few inches towards Lucy and Happy to keep their bodies warm and fight off against the blinding blizzard to an extent. "How's that?"

"Better…" Lucy nodded.

"Aye…" Happy replied, looking up towards the tall mountain.

"So…a Yeti, eh…?" Natsu asked as the trio began to walk up the mountain.

"That's what the job said…it's been terrorizing the people who live near the mountain for a while now…" Lucy replied, looking around for any sign of the creature.

"Shouldn't be a problem!" Natsu grinned, pounding a fist into an open palm. "It's been a while since I've had a good fight, so I hope it doesn't disappoint!"

The trio continued to make their way up the mountain, but little did they know that Heartless was tailing them from afar, seemingly unaffected by the cold, though her cheeks were red from the low temperature. "Those two…I need to test them to see if they're strong enough…"

After about 20 minutes of scaling the snowy mountain, the quiet trip was interrupted by a loud roar, the mountain itself shaking, nearly causing Lucy to fall over. "W-What is that noise!?" Lucy asked as she frantically looked around.

"Up there!" Happy exclaimed as he pointed up, a large beast-like silhouette was on a slightly higher elevation on the mountain. This silhouette wasted no time in jumping down in front of the trio, pounding its fist onto its chest; it was indeed the Yeti they were looking for, a creature with blue skin, and was quite hairy with its purple fur protruding from pretty much everywhere on its body.

"It's the Yeti!" Lucy yelled, preparing to grab two of her golden keys.

"It's almost as fat and hairy as Lucy!" Happy couldn't help but exclaim.

Upon hearing the Exceed's comment, Lucy's fist would immediately meet the cat's head, slamming the poor thing into the snow. "Shut up!"

Natsu focused his fire into his hands, giving an ear to ear grin at the Yeit before them. "I'm fired up!"

.

.

"Grah!" Jack groaned as he stomped around the Dealer guild in a childish way. "This is so boring! I hate being stuck in here!"

"Jack…" Queen Tia sighed, placing a hand on Jack's shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. Jack was…easily excitable, easily irritable…he was not a stable child, so he basically needed Tia to calm him down. "Calm down…"

"Hmph…" Jack merely grunted as Queen Tia told him to calm down. "This is boring, I hate this. Why do Spade and Strong get to do recon?"

"Because it's on Joker's orders…" Diamond replied as she walked forward, albeit with a slight limp from the punishment she received from Joker not too long ago.

"Which means it probably came from Master King himself…" Tia replied before patting Jack comforting on the shoulder. "You know, the recon is only the beginning. After Spade and Strong return, then we will be able to begin the real mission."

"Peh! Well, they sure are taking their sweet time!" Jack replied with another grumble.

"He's even more hot headed than I am…" Diamond's palm met with her forehead and she shook her head slightly. "Tia, I don't understand how you keep your little brother under control."

"Hmph…!" Jack turned away after Diamond spoke, now beginning to walk off. "I don't need anyone to keep my under control, I'm perfectly fine."

"Jack…" Tia started. "Where are you going?"

"I'm bored. I'm gonna go mess around with the monsters we got and see what happens," Jack replied as he waved a dismissive hand, now disappearing from the sight of the two female's.

"My, my…" Diamond gave a slight chuckle before turning away as well, beginning to walk away from Tia. "You know…you two are always so connected by the hip, one day you're not gonna be there and Jack's gonna go crazy…That day will be interesting…" Tia merely remained silent as Diamond walked off; knowing full well that what she was saying was 100% correct.

.

.

Jaxon opened the doors to White Eclipse, turning his head back to speak clearly to those inside. "I'm going out to the market, anyone want anything?"

"Wheat thins," Kairi immediately replied with a nod, holding up the empty box of goodness with a comically sad expression. "I just ran out…"

"Noted…" Jaxon nodded, giving a slight smile. "Anyone else?" The members present just shook their heads, so Jaxon shrugged. "Alright, I'll be back soon, then." Jaxon then nodded and walked outside and down the first few steps. The meteorology mage had failed to notice the ice on the stairs, so he slipped, and fell on the stair behind him right on his head, a resounding "thud" echoing throughout the guild. Blood started to ooze from Jaxon's head as he just laid there, unconscious.

"J-Jaxon!?" Nami immediately ran out the doors once hearing the thud, her eyes widening with surprise at Jaxon's condition. "Ja-!" Before she continued, she caught sight of the blood, her face immediately going green. She ran into the guild, quickly motioning her guild mates to check outside before heading to the nearest bathroom, vomiting profusely into the toilet.

"What's going on…?" Asked Taya as she walked outside, only to see Jaxon unconscious and bleeding on the ground. "Jaxon?!" She wasted no time, immediately using a vector to lift Jaxon up. She then rushed the unconscious mage into the infirmary, wrapping bandages around his head. "Idiot…watch where you step…!"

.

.

"Welcome to Fiore, Knightwalker," Aiden said with a respectful bow to the Fairy Hunter.

"It's a pleasure…" Knightwalker replied with a smirk, looking around the laboratory Aiden had constructed entirely by himself. "And thank you for bringing your assistant to retrieve me, without him; I would've been stuck in Edolas as a "reformed" knight.

"Oh, it was no issue at all, my dear," Hyde replied while tilting his top hat as a sigh of respect.

"So, when to we start the fun?" Knightwalker asked, already eager to begin causing some destruction, to kill people. The blood lust was already growing inside her.

"Soon, my dear," Aiden replied as he walked over to another machine, beginning to activate this once as he shut off the Anima machine. "There is but one more person I believe would be a decent asset to our little team.

"And who would that be?" Knightwalker asked, raising a brow curiously.

"Someone from…the future…" Aiden chuckled before pressing a button on this new one, a time machine. He placed a certain date, 6 years in the future, and the machine began to work, letting out a low humming sound. "Of course, this machine is still a little buggy. I just have to adjust the magic pressure I'm aiming for…and…" With the pull of a lever, a magic seal appeared in the center of the room. Within seconds of this, a figure stepped out (moreso thrown) of the magic circle, stumbling to his feet after, completely confused.

"Ah, and here is out second actor, now…" Hyde smirked slightly.

Future Rogue looked around, completely confused. The last thing he knew he was in a ruined city. "What is this…!?"

"Rogue Cheney from the future…welcome back to the present," Aiden said with a nod.

"What do you want?" Future Rogue asked, keeping his guard up as he felt more surrounded than welcomed by the three people.

"Relax, pretty boy," Knightwalker said while twirling her spear around, mainly doing it for her own entertainment, but there was the subconscious intimidation factor from such an action, but Future Rogue remained unfazed.

"We brought you here to ask for your assistance." Aiden said while extending a hand to Future Rogue. "We're on a mission, see…"

"No thanks," Future Rogue replied almost immediately, slapping Aiden's hand away. "I don't have any interest in working with anyone…" An idea then clicked into his head, which caused the white shadow dragon slayer to smirk. "But thanks for bringing me back to the past, because now I can do what I meant to before…" With his smirk growing wider, Rogue immediately placed his hand down, creating a large black magic seal on the floor. "Shadow Dragon's Eruption!" A large eruption of shadows separated the three while Rogue used this opportunity to activate his Shadow Drive, dipping into the shadows before escaping elsewhere.

Knightwalker used her spear to protect herself from the sudden eruption. She placed her spear down, gritting her teeth in anger at Future Rogue's actions. "That little…!"

Dusting himself off, Aiden turned to Knightwalker with a slight smirk. "Relax…this is all a part of the plan…"

"What…?" Knightwalker turned to Aiden, then Hyde, clearly confused.

"For the script I've written, it is imperative that there be a sort of…lone wolf, if you will…he will join us eventually, it's all in my masterfully written plot, after all…" Hyde explained.

"For now, we will just continue with the three of us," Aiden nodded sternly and walked off with Hyde and Knightwalker, but little did he know, the time machine had been damaged a bit. Of course, the damage wasn't noticeable or too great, but it would most likely cause problems later if not fixed soon.

.

.

Natsu swung a flaming hook towards the Yeti's face, but the large beast of surprisingly agile, lifting its arm to block Natsu's hook, much to the Salamander's surprise. "Wha?" Before Natsu could react in time, the Yeti used its immense strength to force Natsu away onto the snow on his back. The Yeti then jumped into the air, aiming to stomp down on Natsu. "Gah…!"

"Sand Buster!" Scorpio called out as a funnel of sand slammed into the Yeti's chest, sending it flying back into the side of the mountain. "We are! A direct hit!"

"Natsu, are you okay!?" Lucy asked as she looked over to the Salamander.

"Just fine! Thanks!" Natsu nodded and sprang back up, igniting his body in fire once more.

"Natsu, Lucy, look out!" Happy cried, pointing to the abominable snowman. When the two looked, the Yeti had gathered a large amount of snow in such a short time, compacting it all into a large snowball, about ten times the size of a basketball. With a roar, the Yeti hurled the large snowball towards the pair.

Natsu wasted no time, sprinting forward with two orbs of fire in his hands. "Dazzling Blaze…" Natsu leaped into the air, merging the two spheres of fire over his head to create an enlarge sphere, not quite as large as the incoming snowball. "Of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu hurled his own flaming sphere forward, clashing with the snowball. The two elements entered a stalemate, much to the annoyance of both Natsu and the Yeti, but neither had any way of increasing the potency of their attacks without risking something.

Lucy pointed her finger forward, at Natsu's blaze. "Scorpio, one more time!"

"We are!" Scorpio shouted, bending down as he placed his stinger forward. "Sand Buster!" Scorpio shout out yet another funnel sand, slamming into Natsu's blaze form behind, giving it an extra boost of power to power through the snowball and slam into the Yeti, resulting in decent sized explosion. When the smoke from the explosion cleared, the Yeti was seen unconscious for a few seconds, but when it woke up; it quickly ran off, obviously afraid.

"We did it!" Lucy grinned as she gave Natsu a high five. "Nice job, Scorptio!"

"We are! Just in time for my date with Aquarius." Scorpio grinned before returning to the Spirit World.

"Nice job, you guys!" Happy said with a grin. "Now we can spend all that reward money on fissssh…"

"It's for my rent not fish!" Lucy sighed, rubbing her temples, Happy already annoying her with his fish talk.

"Fish is more important than rent!" Happy argued, flailing his arms around.

"Ugh…There's no reasoning with you…" Lucy sighed before turning around, nearly jumping back once she saw Heartless standing there a few feet away from her. "W-What!?"

"Who are you?" Natsu immediately asked, his nose picking up an odd scent from the pinkette.

"My name doesn't matter…at least, yet…" Heartless replied, eying both Lucy and Natsu.

"Yet? Who the hell do you think you are!?" Natsu said with his voice rising somewhat.

"That will become apparent soon enough…" Heartless said in a sort of monotonous tone. "But…I'm here to test you…"

"Test…?" Lucy blinked thrice, tilting her head.

"She wants to fight!" Natsu shouted, allowing his flames to cover his body once again. "That's what she means!"

"Not quite…" Heartless said while discreetly drawing two cards from the back of her dress pocket.

"Don't worry, whatever it is she plans on throwing at us…" Lucy drew two golden keys, immediately summoning the two spirits. "Gate of the Golden Bull, Gate of the Twins, I open thee! Taurus! Gemini!" A chime went off as the large axe wielding cow and the twins, Gem and Ini appeared before Lucy.

"You called-" Taurus began, but when he noticed Heartless, hearts appeared in his eyes, for obvious reasons. "O-Oh my…! What a nice body!"

"Eh…" Heartless took a step back, obviously feeling a bit uncomfortable with Taurus' heart filled eyes staring into her. She then shook her head, revealing the two cards in her hands. One card that the symbol of a flame on it, while the other had the symbol of a lightning bolt. "Regardless."

"Those cards…?" Lucy kept a watchful eye on the cards Heartless had, unsure what she was planning with them. Heartless threw her arm forward, sending the cards flying forward with blinding speed. The flame card landed on Taurus' head, while the lightning card stuck to Gemini's head. The cards then began to unleash a powerful magic force, letting loose a small shockwave that shook the mountain. The two spirits then began to let out a loud, pained scream as the cards began to take them over. 'T-TAURUS! GEMINI!" Lucy began to panic, and she attempted to force a gate closure on the two, but it failed, they weren't in her control anymore.

"They aren't yours anymore…" Heartless said in a monotonous tone. She pointed to Taurus, his transformation nearly complete. "I dub thee…Taurus Fire…" She then turned to the Gemini twins, pointing at them. "And I dub thee, Gemini Spark…" A flame covered Taurus' body as he let out a loud moo, now entering a completely different appearance. His body was now red instead of black and white, and his axe was no longer in his possession. Flames surrounded his body as he kept his Minotaur look. As for Gemini, a thunderbolt struck down, seemingly splitting the two twins apart. When the light from the sudden flash died down, the two twins stood side by side, but they had a more humanoid appearance, their skin tones blue and red, sparks dancing wildly around their body.

"W-WHAT…" Lucy's jaw dropped as she looked at her changed spirits, completely befuddled as to what happened.

"If you can defeat these two, they will return to your side, but if you can't, they'll be joining me…this is your test…can you save something close to you that's been corrupted…?" Heartless asked before turning and walking back down the mountain.

"Hey, get back here!" Natsu roared, immediately chasing after Heartless, but he was stopped by Gemini Spark B, who swung an electric claw at Natsu's torso, paralyzing the Salamander on the spot. "Gah…!"

"Natsu!" Lucy ran forward, pulling out yet another key, "Gate of the Archer, I open thee! Sagittarius!"

In a puff of smoke, the cosplaying horse spirit appeared with a salute. "How can I assist you, moshi-moshi?"

"Shoot that one!" Lucy shouted, pointing towards the black Gemini Spark.

"As you wish moshi-moshi!" Sagittarius complied, skillfully taking out his bow and arrow in under a second, taking aim, but before he could, Taurus Fire ran towards the two, preparing the tackle them with no problem.

"W-Watch it!" Lucy tackled the horse spirit to the ground, merely seconds away from being trampled by the ramping cow fire. "T-Taurus! Snap out of it!"

Natsu grit his teeth as he tried to move, and when he was finally able to, he swung a quick flaming right hook at Gemini Spark B's face, only for it to dodge. Natsu followed up with a left hook, but Gemini Spark B jumped back, now revealing Gemini Spark R with his fist held out. "Electric Rocket!" Spark W called out, sending an electric fist hurtling towards Natsu.

"Agh!" Natsu grunted as the fist slammed right into his sternum, blowing him back a few feet. Natsu quickly flipped, placing his feet on the snow covered ground to regain his balance. He looked up, only to see Spark B giving him no time to rest by throwing an electric haymaker, but Happy intervened at the last second, slamming into Spark B's face, causing his haymaker to miss Natsu, and caused B to stumble back a step. Using his opening, Natsu allowed fire to erupt around his leg, and he swung it at Spark B's face in a roundhouse, landing the hit, and sent Spark B staggering back now.

"He hit me…" Spark B spat on the ground after the hit, feeling the intense burn Natsu's kick on his cheek.

"Don't worry; he won't be a problem if we take him out together!" Spark R replied with a smirk.

Natsu crouched down, allowing a trail of fire magic to flow from his arms. "Fire Dragon's Wing Slash!" Natsu shouted as he jumped forward, spreading his arms out in attempt to strike both Spark Twins, but before he could reach them, a heavy fist slammed into his back, creating a large crater once Natsu hit the ground. Taurus Fire gave out a moo, raising his fist once more to repeat the action since Natsu was slightly dazed.

"N-No so fast…!" A burnt Lucy (who had forced closed Sagittarius' gate) quickly wrapped her whip around Taurus Fire's raised arm, attempting to pull it back, but she was too weak, and Taurus swung his arm around, swinging Lucy like a lasso instead of the other way around. "WAAH!?"

"I got you, Lucy!" Happy shouted, starting to following Lucy's motion with his eyes…until he got dizzy and just fell to the ground with swirls in his eyes. "Never mind…"

Taurus slammed Lucy onto the ground, causing her and the whip to release. Lucy groaned loudly as she sat up, rubbing her injured arm, wincing slightly. "O-Ouch…"

"Hey, Blue! I got an idea!" Red started as a devious smirk appeared on his face. He and Blue jumped together, now side by side, their opposite arms together, and their other arms extended into the air. "Unison Raid!" The two shouted as electricity began to wildly surge around them. "Gemini Thunder!" After exclaiming this, a large, powerful bolt of electricity shot out towards Lucy, the bolt splitting the ground it traveled across. Lucy's eyes widened as she froze in place, unable to defend against the incoming bolt in her current state. The Gemini Thunder caused a massive explosion once it made contact….with Natsu, who was standing in front of Lucy, though he was now covered in bruises and all sorts of marks. He stood in place, panting heavily, still showing he was able to keep fighting. "N-Natsu…!"

"Aw man…he blocked it…" Spark B snapped his fingers in disproval, but the fact the two hit someone was more than enough to keep him happy overall.

"We can't continue like this…" Lucy said as she looked at Taurus Fire and Gemini Spark. "But they're my spirits; I have to keep trying…!" Lucy stepped forward once again, but the mountain began to rumble.

"Mrgh?" Taurus Fire looked around, rubbing his head cluelessly. "What's that noise…?"

"The mountain…!" Happy exclaimed as a large wave of snow started to travel down the mountain; an avalanche.

"Time to dip!" Spark B and R said in unison, vanishing in a flash of lighting.

"Mrrrgh!" Taurus exclaimed before vanishing in a flash of fire.

"N-No! WAIT! PLEASE!" Lucy cried out, tears welling her in eyes. Natsu shook of the paralyze the Gemini Thunder left on him, and grabbed Lucy's hand, quickly running back down the mountain. "We have to go…"

"B-But…" Lucy sniffed, sadness now taking over her as she worried for the wellbeing of her spirits.

At the top of the mountain, Tartaros's Celestial Mage, Ruika Celestia, watched the altercation between Natsu and Lucy vs. Taurus Fire and Gemini Spark; in fact, she was the one who caused the avalanche to begin with, though if she did it on purpose or accident cannot be determined. All that's known is that she was watching from the very top of the mountain with no problems whatsoever. "So…that woman can control spirits…that's a little troublesome…"


	6. Chapter 5: King's Devious Plan

Lucy paced around the Fairy Tail guild, muttering to herself about the whereabouts of her stolen spirits, Taurus and Gemini. "It's been days…I really hope they're okay…"

"Relax, Lucy, we'll find them soon enough!" Cana said in a reassuring tone, placing a hand gently on the worried blonde's shoulder. "They shouldn't be too far…"

"I don't even know where that lady came from…it just happened so quickly…" Lucy sighed, the frown on her face fading somewhat from Cana's reassurance.

Natsu sat on a chair near the bar, grumbling to himself at his performance in the fight against Gemini Spark and Taurus Fire. "They were strong…I could've done a lot better…I didn't even get that lady's scent because she wasn't close enough."

"Don't fret, Natsu," Erza said while walking over to the fire dragon slayer. "As Cana said, we'll resolve everything soon enough."

"And then we'll pay them back one hundred times over…" Natsu smirked now, standing up. "Let's go right now!"

"Yeah, that's a brilliant plan…" Laxus started from the second floor with an obvious sarcastic tone, looking down at Natsu with a bored expression. "Go right ahead and look for something when you don't even know where it is, where do you come up with these great plans, Natsu?"

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today…" Cynthia mumbled.

"You wanna go, Laxus!?" Natsu shouted as he stared down the lightning dragon from below.

"Maybe some other time…" Laxus yawned, now waving a dismissive hand.

"Ah…anyway…" Wendy started in attempt to change the subject. "What are we going to do in the meantime…we can't find Lucy-san's spirits right away when we don't even know where they are…"

"We'll come up with a few plans, obviously!" Levy said as she raised a fist into the air, putting on her glasses after. "Lu-chan's spirits are also a part of Fairy Tail, so we have to do everything we can to save them!"

"Well said, Levy." Pantherlily said with an approving nod.

Feeling the positive energy from her guild mates, Lucy couldn't help but smile, now feeling the urge to just as hard, and if not harder, than her guild mates to save her captured spirits. "I can't be all sad now! I have to put in effort to save Taurus and Gemini! Don't worry you guys, we'll get you back soon!"

.

.

Things seemed relatively normal in the White Eclipse guild; as in it was another round of training with Reve leading the members with his ever so wonderful "encouragement". "Not bad work today..." Reve said with a nod. "Though, you could all do a little bit better."

Aira panted heavily, now on her hands in knees in the snow from the intensive training session. She looked up at Reve before speaking. "A-Are we done for the day...?"

"Yeah, I suppose so," Reve said with a nod. "You're all getting better at the easy stuff." Reve then turned around and walked back inside the guild, leaving a few of the other members gawking at his last statement.

"What the hell does me that "easy stuff..."?!" Cygnus asked as he stood up, almost having his breath back.

"He's gonna run us into the ground one of these days..." Heather sighed before rolling one of her sore shoulders. "I don't know about you all, but I'm going to take a bath after all that..."

"Selene's lucky she's not here..." Luke groaned as he slowly made way inside with everyone else. "She doesn't have to deal with this..."

"I miss Selene..." Aira sighed, sitting down on the couch after. "She's been gone for months, I hope she's alright..."

"I think she's with Gajeel," Waiston said with his mouth full of ice. After that, things went back to being calm for about 45 or so minutes, until Jaxon came walking out of the infirmary with bandages wrapped around his head. "Jaxon...?"

"Oh, he's awake..." Taya spoke, her arms crossed over her chest as she walked towards the meteorology mage, her voice now a stern, scolding one. "What were you thinking? You've had us all worried, being out for days like that."

Jaxon merely blinked a few times, seemingly confused. "Uhm...I'm sorry I made you worry...but I have one question."

"And that is?" Taya inquired, keeping her tone of voice.

"Who are you people...?" Jaxon asked, blinking confusedly once again.

"What do you mean, Jaxon?!" Kuro immediately asked. "We're your family, remember?"

"Family...? You guys?" Jaxon looked around at all the members present, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm terribly sorry, but I don't think I know any of you..."

"Oh, great, he's got amnesia..." Luke let out a heavy sigh before rolling his eyes, sitting down on a chair. "I don't believe this..."

"Ne, will his memory come back...?" Asami asked, rather curiously at that.

"It might..." Aira replied as she straightened up, glancing at the confused Jaxon. "Memory loss is very serious...we have to take things one step at a time, and even then, he may not remember anything about us or who he is..."

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see where this goes then..." Nami sighed, worry obviously in her voice.

Not too far off from the others, Saeko stood near a window, watching the light snow fall on the mountain, but her expression was not a happy one. She began to talk to herself, passing on a message the stars were telling her. "The deck has been made...the King is the one who wields the cards, and controls the game." Saeko's speaking began to attract a few of the other members, getting them rather curious as she continued. "The Queen and Jack seek to create order...the Heart will destroy the inseparable bonds two, the Diamond, the Spade, and Club will leave a path of the destruction, and that path will lead the Joker right to her. The Dreadful Joker will be the end of..."

"Is she okay..?" Zalen whispered to Kairi, his eyes shifting between the angelic mage and astrology mage.

Kairi merely shrugged, unable to come up with a reasonable response, as she was quite unsure. "Beats me..."

Saeko continued, oblivious to the small crowd of her guild members who were trying to listen in on what she was saying. "The two twins will betray, and the Ox will cause havoc...And the Ace…"

.

.

At the same time of the events at Fairy Tail, Dealer itself was handling a few smaller situations. Queen Tia approached Heartless with a slightly burnt outfit, and an annoyed expression. "Heartless…"

Heartless raised a brow at Queen Tia's outfit, tilting her head in a quizzical manner before speaking. "Yes, Tia…? Did you and Jack get in a fight or something…?"

"No," Tia immediately replied after Heartless spoke, the response so fast that she nearly interrupted Heartless. "It was that stupid bull you brought over here. Taurus Fire, was it? What on earth were you thinking? It's very obnoxious, and whenever it looks at me or Diamond, it gets hearts in its eyes and says something about nice bodies, it's sickening!"

"I see…" Heartless crossed her arms, thinking of a way to apologize to the superior S class mage. "I didn't think that bringing that one back would result in situations like this…Have you have any problem with the Gemini Spark twins?"

Tia thought for a moment before shaking her head. "No, those two have been surprisingly calm and cooperative…Where did you pick those things up from again? They obviously aren't human…"

"A celestial spirit mage," Heartless replied. "Those are the two spirits, Gemini and Taurus. I'm surprised she summoned those two, as I expected Leo…But I'm content with what I did get…"

"Well, keep that perverted fire bull/cow shit away from Diamond and I before something happens to it, alright?" Tia ordered before walking off.

"Yes, Queen Tia…" Was Heartless' only reply; as the Queen walked off, Heartless began to think to herself. "She and the Salamander were unable to rescue those spirits…if they cannot handle a simple battle such as that…then Fairy Tail as a whole is not ready for the calamity that Dealer is about to bring…And I feel as though I can say the same for the guilds known as White Eclipse and Twilight Zone…The only thing I can do for now is just continue to scout and see how things play out later…"

In the main room of the Dealer guild, Joker, Diamond, and King were beginning to discuss the whereabouts of the missing Spade Magnes and Club Strong. "It's been days! Where are those two idiots?!" Diamond groaned, tapping her foot in an irritated fashion as a cold wind began to emit from her body. "It's been three days! How are they not back yet!"

"This is a little troublesome…" King sighed, shuffling a deck of cards in his hands. "Fiore is a foreign country, but they shouldn't have gotten lost unless one of them damaged the lacrima…"

"I wouldn't put it past Strong to do that…but Spade? Eh…he's usually careful on missions…" Diamond replied while letting her angel subside.

"Should I go look for them?" Joker asked, ready to hand out a punishment for the two being late?

"That won't be necessary, Joker." King replied. "I want to perform a little experiment…"

"An experiment, sir?" Joker spoke with a curious tone, wondering what it was that King wanted to test out.

"Yes…" A small grin appeared on King's face. "I want to see what those two will do before they return, as I ordered them to give me a report of it once they did. So, let us all see where this takes us…"

.

.

In a restaurant in a small town, Spade and Magnus were eating to their hearts contents. But in all actuality, Spade was rather annoyed while Strong was chowing down. "Come on, hurry up!" Spade nearly shouted in aggravation, a scowl the prominent feature on his face. "King is going to have our HEADS if we don't hurry up!"

"He can wait just a little bit longer…!" Strong said with a full mouth, not wasting time in shoving any more food in his mouth.

"It's been days! He's gonna be so pissed…!" Spade began to panic, now rising from his seat. "Come on, we're going back."

"But I need to finish this food…!" Strong said, or at least that's what Spade thought he said. "I want seconds, but there are too many people!"

"Too many people? Fine, wait here sec…" Spade raised his hand, creating colorless magic seals above him. "Missile Barrage!" From the magic circles, missiles launched out, striking every part of the restaurant, causing numerous large explosions, causing the people to panic and flee.

"Ah! Spade, what are you doing!? The cooks are leaving too!" Strong groaned.

"Oh, that's too bad!" Spade shouted back. "We're going back to King!"

"Oi, oi…" Sting, the White Dragon slayer of Sabertooth sighed as he walked forward, stretching as he used a tooth pick to clean his teeth. "Can't a guild master come to a small town to eat out without being interrupted…?"

"Who the hell is this guy…?" Spade asked, a brow raised as he eyed Sting. "I'm detecting an interesting level of magic coming from this guy…"

"Should we report back to King?" Strong asked as he stood up, his hulking stature towering over Sting.

"Let's test this out…Strong, you have the honors." A smirk appeared on Spade's face as he stood back, waiting to see Strong show off his immense strength.

"I don't know who you guys are…" Sting started as he flicked the tooth pick away, a serious expression now on his face. "But you're causing a lot of these people trouble, so I'm gonna have to knock some sense into you."

"That so…?" Strong's clueless expression immediately replaced with that of a cold hearted murdered. "Let's see if you can…" Strong drew his muscular arm back, and hurled it towards Sting, who quickly jumped to the side, causing Strong's fist to smash through the ground. Much to Sting's surprise, the impact was followed up by a shockwave, throwing Sting off his feet, but he quickly spun around to regain his balance.

"He's strong alright…" Sting thought to himself. Sting then allowed white energy to form around his closed fists, and he charged forward towards Strong whilst exclaiming. "White Dragon's Punch!" Sting threw his fist forward, striking Strong directly in the chest, but the hulking male didn't seem fazed by the attack, even though the energy tore through his shirt and left a mark on him, Sting, not acknowledging this yet, then swung a heavy right hook to Strong's face, forcing Strong's head to turn in that direction. Sting jumped back, now noticing how Strong wasn't really affected by the attacks. "He didn't flinch…"

Strong turned his neck, a loud popping sound coming from it as he faced Sting, a grin now on his face. "Oh, thanks a lot, I've had this really nasty crick in my neck for the past few days, but that really helped me out. Let me repay you!" Strong held his hand up, a heavenly light appearing in his palm as a large, platinum club appeared in his hands.

"W-What the hell is…!?" Sting's eyes widened, his irises now miniscule as he witnessed Strong literally shrug his attack off.

"Strong Swing!" Strong swung his club at Sting, but Sting managed to jump to the side at the last second, letting the dangerous weapon strike the ground. To Sting's surprise, the impact from the club sent a powerful shockwave that literally tore through the ground for about 20 or so yards, after that, the path just continued, a tremor following it for about 10 seconds before calming down.

"What…What the hell is this guy…?" Sting thought to himself once more as he glared at Strong, who was giving a few practice swings with his platinum club. Shaking the feeling off, Sting jumped forward once again, his cheeks beginning to puff out. "White Dragon's Roar!" Sting opened his mouth, unleashing a torrent of holy white energy towards the seemingly distracted Strong.

"Oh, ho…" Strong gave a sly grin before stepping on the ground once, causing a light green magic seal to appear in front of up, sending large, thick pillars of wood to appear, protecting him from the roar with ease. The wood pillars shattered, but Strong was unharmed.

"No way…!" Sting's jaw dropped. "How did he guard against that in time…!?"

"Yup, Strong's still got it…" Spade smirked, analyzing every move Sting made so he could file this back to King when he returned.

Stong spun around once, and when he did he sent multiple tornadoes hurtling towards Sting, who was unable to dodge. "GAAAH!" Sting yelled out in pain as he flew through a wall, now landing on a dirt road just near the building. "Ugh…" Sting rubbed his head, and when he looked up, he could see Strong quickly approaching; despite his size, he was certainly fast. "White Drive…" Sting spoke in a low tone, activating an ability that made him different from the first and second generation dragon slayers; a white aura made itself present around Sting's body, upping his combat abilities in the process. He allowed white energy to course through a clenched fist once more, and he charged towards Strong, throwing a fierce uppercut to Strong's chin, causing Strong's head to tilt back, seemingly frozen. This didn't last but for a few seconds, as Strong merely brought his head forward, slamming a brutal headbutt into Sting, sending the dragon slayer into the ground once more. "D-Dammit…" Sting looked up, eyes wide. Strong had raised his club, and he was preparing to swing it down, and he did, but Sting brought his hands up, stopping the impact just in time, but the ground began to crack and crater beneath him from the sheer force Strong was using. "Grrrr…."

"Strong, that's enough," Spade commanded, snapping his fingers to draw Strong's attention.

"Eh…?" Strong immediately went back to his usual unintelligent self, walking over to Spade with a confused look. "But I was just about to finish him!"

"We're not here to cause a scene, remember? Plus, you were about to win anyway…we're going back, I have some interesting data to relay back to King," Spade nodded, and he and Strong left rather quickly, leaving Sting there, gritting his teeth in anger.

"Kuso…"

.

.

"So, that's what took you so long?" Heartless inquired Spade and Strong, a hand resting on her hip.

"Yes!" Spade replied, quickly continuing before Joker could get the chance to chew him out. "But, not only did Strong and I get a map of Fiore, we also got some information about the mages and the magic they use!"

"Is that so?" King said, his interest obvious caught by Spade's words. "Tell me, what did you find?"

"Well, it was only once mage, but…" Spade coughed. "We figured, well, how about we do some research on the top guilds in Fiore!"

"….That gives me an idea…" Heartless nodded slowly.

"And it gives me an idea too!" King shouted with excitement, ingenious smirk appearing on his lips. "There are three top guilds, yes?"

"That is correct," Joker nodded. "There is, in order, White Eclipse, Twilight Zone, and Fairy Tail, the former number one guild of that country, though I still believe them to be number one, because of the events that happened in the most recent Grand Magic Games, preventing a fair competition."

"Interesting…" King nodded as he listened to Joker's words. "Alright, well, Jack, Queen Tia, I have a job for you."

"Am I finally gonna be able to leave this dump?" Jack asked.

"Jack, be more respectful," Tia let out a small annoyed sound before looking towards King. "What is it?"

"I want you two to investigate Fairy Tail…we may find some information on that item we are looking for as well. I trust my two strongest S class mages can handle the job, yes?" King asked.

"You can count on us, King," Queen Tia replied. "Jack and I will leave immediately."


	7. Chapter 6: Dealer's Game Begins

Jack and Tia stood outside the front doors of Fairy Tail, but looking at the building with different looks. Jack gave a disgusted look while Tia gave a somewhat interested one. "I can tell I'm not going to like this place already..." Jack grunted, his arms crossed over his chest as he tapped his foot on the ground.

"You're on orders to play nice, Jack," Tia replied as she set up the transmission lacrima (which was disguised as an accessory on her dress) to send the live feedback to Dealer. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Jack sighed, preparing to put on his "innocent child" act, as Tia prepared her "older sister" act, which was a mix of acting and how things really were.

"I'm leaving now!" Cynthia exclaimed as the front doors flew open. She excitedly ran out the front doors, only to slam into Tia head on, sending the older female into the ground. "GAH!?" Cynthia hopped up, bowing apologetically. "Sorry, sorry!"

"Ugh..." Tia groaned as she stood up, fixing a glare on Cynthia. "Watch where you're going, you brat!"

"H-Hey!" Cynthia's cheeks puffed out in an irritated fashion, coming complete with a half pout. "I said sorry! You should watch where YOU'RE going!"

"I was standing still!" Tia shouted back, actually showing some anger that she never really allowed to surface when around the others, as she was known in Dealer as the calm one.

Jack, finding it awkward to be the one to break up Tia's argument (when it's usually the other way around) coughed just about as awkward as he felt. "Uhm..."

"Oh...?" Cynthia blinked, turning her head to face Jack. "You are...?"

"We've come to...uh...check out Fairy Tail...?" Jack coughed again, clearing his throat as he looked to Tia, his expression nearly begging her to take the lead.

"Oh!" Cynthia's upset demeanor instantly vanished and a large, prideful smile etched onto her face. "Fairy Tail is the strongest guild in Fiore! And it's the best home!"

"I thought it was third..." Tia murmured, but it seemed as though Cynthia heard her.

"...Things were complicated during the Grand Magic Games." Cynthia said as she quickly and nervously waved a hand. "I'm kinda busy, but feel free to let yourselves inside, everyone is really kind and welcoming!" Cynthia nodded before walking off into the Magnolian streets.

"Kinda and friendly, eh..?" Jack then sighed heavily. "I knew it; I'm going to hate this place."

"You're going to act like you like it, understand?" Tia demanded in a strict, elderly sister tone. "It will bring us one step closer to our goal in the end."

"Yeah, I understand..." Jack nodded.

"Good." Tia took a step forward, and pushed the doors open, only to be legitimately taken aback at the scene before her.

Natsu and Gray were head to head, as usual, the two shouting at each other as a blazing red and icy blue aura surrounded the two. "What was that, squinty eyes?!" Gray questioned as he pressed his forehead against Natsu's.

"Ya heard exactly what I said, Underpants!" Natsu yelled, though he was smirking because he knew he was winning this little encounter.

"They always find the littlest things..." Lucy placed a hand on her forehead, sighing heavily while shaking her head.

Mirajane merely gave a slight smile, washing the bar counter with a damp rag. "It's just another normal day."

"Which means it'll stop soon...hopefully..." Lisanna commented.

While the two mages of opposing elements argued, Mirajane noticed that Jack and Tia were just watching, dumbfounded at the scene before them. "Oh, it looks like we have guest!"

"Guests...?" Wendy turned to the entrance, stopping the pair of brother and sister.

"Natsu, Gray, cut it out, right now." Erza said in her usual stern tone, causing the ice mage and the fire mage to instantly split apart, and to opposite sections of the guild. "Good." Erza gave a nod before turning towards the strangers, a small, kind smile on her features, though she was prepared to take action if they posed a threat. "Welcome to Fairy Tail...is there something we can help you with?"

.

.

Cynthia strolled through the Magnolian streets with a spring in her step, her hands in her pockets as she whistled a slight tune to herself. "Today's just gonna be a good day~." She sang to herself, not paying attention to where she was going, thus leading her to run into a person. "Agh!" She took a step back, first questioning why the person she ran into was literally hot until she looked up, her eyes widening somewhat before shifting to a glare.

"Oi…" Maggie, the Lava demon of Tartaros, sighed as she used her hand to brush her long white hair behind her back. Once she realized who it was who bumped into her, a dark smirked appeared on the vixen's lips. "Oh, my…what is it we have here, hm…?"

"Maggie…" Cynthia mumbled as she emitted a low growl, keeping her guard up in case she tried something.

Maggie, wasting no time, merely hoisted the small girl up over her shoulder and just began to walk off. "You're coming with me, love."

"H-Hey!" Cynthia shrieked, beginning to thrash her body around, her dark red flames starting to erupt from her body, but Maggie was entirely unaffected by the heat Cynthia was giving off. "Put me down!"

Maggie let out a sigh as she continued to walk, exiting Magnolia with Cynthia still trying to free herself. After a while, Maggie's patience began to run this, so she stopped, speaking in a threatening tone. "Listen here you little shit. If you don't stop right now I will personally dismember you right here, right now." After the threat, Cynthia whimpered quietly before falling slient, but she calmed down. She wasn't a brave soul when she was on her own in a situation like this, and she knew the extent of her flames would literally do nothing but rejuvenate Maggie. After the girl calmed down, Maggie smirked before continuing. "Good girl."

.

.

"Things have been way too quiet lately…" Luke groaned as he sat on White Eclipse's couch. "I don't like it…"

"It feels like the calm before a storm…" Aira mumbled as she looked out the window, watching the gentle snow fall.

"I think you guys are worrying too much!" Kuro said with his usual cheerful smile as he and Saeko sat at the dining table nearby, slurping down bowls and bowls of noodles.

"For some reason I feel as though that isn't the case…" Luke replied as he leaned back on the couch, thinking about the night before.

{Flashback}

Skye had pulled Luke into her room, freaking out over the object in her closet. It was the set of Jade armor she and Luke had tried to buy the other day. "I-I…" Skye stammered, but she just couldn't find the words.

"W-When…How…?" Luke too was at a loss for words, unable to understand how Skye attained the armor.

"I have to hide it…" Skye said as she brought up her archive, placing the set of Jade armor inside.

{End flashback}

"It's been a mess lately…" Luke sighed. "And I feel like it's about to get worse soon…Oh yeah, has Jaxon been improving any?" He asked to those who were around.

"We've convinced him that he's a member here, and that he'll stay," Nami started, sighing after. "But, he really doesn't remember too much but that…"

"I hope he doesn't stay like that…" Saeko spoke after she finished a bowl of noodles. Her expression then changed somewhat as she eyed the window suspiciously; the stars were telling her people were outside, but it didn't seem as though they made the decision to make a move just yet.

Just outside the guild, Diamond and Spade were peering inside through the window. "Ah man, they're just sitting there…!" Diamond groaned, showing no signs of being affected by the cold air and the snow, even while wearing just a bikini top, shorts, and a pair of sandals. "This is just horrible…why can't we just go in and take those who are around!?"

Spade, who was layered up in about 3 jackets and sweatpants, was noticeably shivering; his teeth clattering together as he barely got his words out. "T-That's not K-K-K-King's orders…! W-We're supposed t-t-t-to find the strongest bunch…a-and then…!" Spade then paused, now preparing to let out a large sneeze which would give away their position.

"Idiot!" Diamond slapped her hand over Spade's as he sneezed, immediately wiping her germ covered hand over Spade's jackets. "Ew, gross…" She then sighed as she saw back against the snow, enjoying herself but at the same time she wasn't. "I know what King said, but there's hardly anyone present…How are we going to pick the strongest if that's all they have to offer for what King and Heartless have planned…?!"

"I heard they train every other day…maybe if we check tomorrow we'll get a nice group and pick a select few; yes?" Spade asked.

"Ugh…fine…I guess we'll report back to base then…I wonder how Strong is doing…?" Diamond sighed as she stood up.

"Strong is with Joker, because Joker wasn't sure if Strong would be able to get the job done correctly on his own," Spade said as a magic circle appeared on his back, which spawned a jet pack-like machine. Spade lifted Diamond up, and flew off into the air. "But, hopefully our reports from the videos of the Grand Magic Games will be enough for King to decide when to attack…"

.

.

Strong gazed through the Twilight Zone window, his large stature not yet catching anyone's attention because no one happened to be around, which surprised both him and Joker. Strong had his eyes on a pie laid out on the kitchen table, his mouth watering at the sight of it. "I-Is that an apple pie…?"

Joker slammed a fist into the back of Strong's head, letting out a disgusted groan. "You incompetent giant…we're here to scout out the members. The pie, though delicious, remains still. They must not know we were here." After that, Joker's blue shades formed magic circles on the lenses, and the SS class mage began to look the building up and down, scanning the building for any magic signatures.

"Guh…" Strong rubbed the back of his head after Joker's hit, going back to gazing at the pie with a blank expression now.

"Hm…it appears the guild, though second strongest in Fiore, is a rather quiet one…I detect no presence of the S and SS class mages, and all the other mages seem to be locked away in their rooms, doing absolutely nothing…" Joker then grunted in frustration, resisting the urge to punch through the wall to gain attention. "This won't do, this won't do at all…" Joker then turned on his heel, grabbing Strong by the back of his shirt and proceeded to drag him off. "The end result better be worth it, Heartless."

.

.

Back in Fairy Tail, Jack and Tia were basically getting an all-around tour of the building, much to their annoyance. Jack was particularly annoyed when the other members tried to talk to them; he wanted to shove them away, but he remembered how he had to play it cool, which was easier said than done. Mirajane carefully watched Jack's behavior, raising a brow curiously. "He seems to be a tempered child…" Mirajane spoke softly as she washed the bar counter.

"How can you tell?" Lucy asked as she looked over at Mirajane.

"His facial expression gives it off. He doesn't want to be here, so he's annoyed," Mirajane replied. "But, I'm sure he'll come to like this place soon enough. I can't imagine a reason why they wouldn't be here."

"True…" Lucy merely replied, keeping her eyes on Tia more so than Jack. Something about Tia interested Lucy, but at the same time it repelled her.

"Hey, you!" The combative fire dragon slayer roared to catch Tia's attention, also coming to a sliding stop in front of her to make sure he had your attention. "You said you were S class strength, right!?"

"There he goes again…" Lisanna let out a sigh.

"Natsu, don't pick fights with our guest…" Erza let out a heavy exhale, unsure if she should step in or not.

Tia could not even feign a happy look as she looked towards Natsu. Instead, it was just her usual, cold glare, but it didn't bother Natsu. Tia merely nodded in response to Natsu's question. "That's correct…"

That was all the belligerent dragon slayer needed to hear. Flames covered Natsu's fist as he lunged forward, a large grin on his face. "Then fight me!"

"Natsu-san, no!" Wendy started, but she then realized that her pleas fell on deaf ears; nothing would stop Natsu at this point.

"This should be entertaining…if she wasn't lying about her strength, that is." Laxus commented from the second floor as he watched the first generation fire dragon charge to the seemingly unprepared female.

"Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu swung his heated fist towards Tia's face, his grin widening as it seemed he was going to get a direct hit to start off.

Tia made no movements, though her eyes were locked on Natsu and every move he made When Natsu swung his fist forward, Tia bent back, Natsu's fist almost grazing her chin. As she bent back, she back flipped, her heel slamming into Natsu's chin as a result. The impact sent Natsu flying into the roof, swirls in his eyes as he was stuck to the ceiling, KO'ed. "Don't you know it's rude to attack a lady unprepared…"

Most everyone (excluding Laxus) stood wide eyed at Natsu's quick defeat. Laxus merely raised a brow in interest. "Huh…not bad…"

"N-Natsu!" Happy flew up to Natsu, attempting to pry the dragon slayer out of the wall, but he was struck real good.

"O-One shot…?!" Romeo quickly ran to where Natsu was standing, looking up at the dazed Salamander. "N-Natsu-nii, don't worry! We'll…find some way to get you down…probably."

"That's sis…" Jack said while nudging Lisanna's shoulder, a small smirk on his face.

"She's very strong…" Lisanna barely managed to speak, only snapping back into reality because of Jack's nudging.

"I believe that's enough time spent here…" Tia said as she used her hand to dust herself off. "Come on, Jack." She and Jack then left Fairy Tail rather swiftly.

"She's insanely strong…I don't even think she was trying with that attack…" Lucy said as she watched Tia and Jack leave.

Once outside, Tia let out a content sigh. "That felt really good…for some reason, he just feels like the person you want to kick in the face to relieve your frustrations…"

"Bet you had fun with that, huh?" Jack let out a chuckle. "They were so surprised!"

"It's going to be a little fun playing with them soon…" Tia let off a rarely seen smirk. "Now, let's return to Dealer."

.

.

Those who were scouting were all back at Dealer, while Heartless and King had already prepared the next phase of the plan. "What did you all find?" King asked while playing with a deck of cards, expecting results from everyone.

Tia spoke up first. "Fairy Tail is interesting…it has two groups of members. Those who seem to be more relevant and powerful than the others…"

"So, we'll want to grab a few of those members who are stronger…" King nodded, now shifting his gaze to Diamond and Spade.

"Those stupid White Eclipse idiots aren't going to be in a large group until tomorrow…and until then, there's no way of picking out the strong guys," Diamond sighed.

"I see…and Joker?"

"Twilight Zone is quiet; despite its placement in the ranking system...the stronger members are absent…" Joker replied.

"Well, I'm not one for playing my hand too soon, but we must test out their powers…" King nodded. "Very well…we'll just play the hand we have and see how they react…I suggest we prepare the board."

.

.

Another morning in White Eclipse, which also meant another vigorous training session for the members. It was just as rough as the previous, if not rougher; all the members laid down in the snow as they tried to catch their breath. "Same time again tomorrow," Reve said as he started to turn around.

"I can't feel my everything…" Cygnus groaned as he panted heavily. Since he was on his back, he noticed something falling from the sky, causing him to raise a brow. "Anyone else see that…?"

"You mean that object falling from the sky?" Zalen asked as he cleaned his glasses.

"What?" Reve immediately turned around, not too far from the group of exhausted members. He looked up, his eyes widening as he realized what the object was. "Shit…!" He pulled out a pistol, and took aim, shooting at the object multiple times, but his magical bullets bounced off the object, having no effect on it. "Everyone, move!" But it was too late; the object hit the ground, and exploded into a pink smoke.

"W-What is this…?" Kairi's eyes began to grow heavier as she spoke, entering a state of drowsiness.

"I-It smells terrible…" Takeru grunted as he too was having a hard time staying conscious. He couldn't even muster up the energy to hide in the shadows to escape the gas.

"Sleeping gas…" Reve mumbled as he hit the snow, passing out along with everyone else.

Diamond and Spade walked up to the unconscious group of people. Diamond smirked as she poked each and every one of them with her foot before nodding to Spade. "Alright, they're out cold. Let's grab a few and get out of here."

.

.

"Evanee-senpai! Rylo-san!" Melanie happily exclaimed as the pair returned from their month long mission.

"Oh, they're back…" Flynn merely gave a shrug. "How'd it go?"

"Pretty well," Rylo replied. "It was pretty close at some points."

"Well, welcome back," Alexander gave a nod to the two superior mages before heading back to work on something. It was then that something flew through the open window and landed by his feet. "What…?" Before Alexander could say or do anything, the object unleashed a pink gas, causing the War God mages to immediately fall unconscious."

"Wait what just happened?" Flynn turned, only to see the gas heading towards him. "Oh no!" He swung his leg, using his wind magic in time with the kick to send a powerful gust of wind forward, sending the gas away from him.

Evanee immediately raised a brow, her senses on alert as she looked around. "Who dares…"

"What's with all that noise?" Taranis trudged out of his room, sleepily rubbing his eyes. He then dropped to the floor, unconscious in a sleepy state. Pink gas slowly let itself escape from his room.

"They got him too?" Rylo looked around, hoisting Taranis over his shoulder while Flynn hoisted Alexander up.

"We have to leave." Evanee said in a stern tone, making her way to the doorway. She opened the door, only for her eyes to widen in complete surprise. There stood Joker, his attack already coming her and everyone else's way.

Boom.

.

.

Jack tossed a small sphere up and down as he glanced at the Fairy Tail building. He and tia already concluded that those they wanted to grab were inside. "May I have the honors?"

"Go right ahead." Tia nodded, opening the door.

"Oh, the doors open…" Lucy walked over to the door, but the last thing she, and everyone else saw was a cloud of pink smoke. When the smoke cleared, Jack and Tia walked in, both smirking somewhat.

"Let the games begin…" Was all Tia had to say as her eye gave an evil twinkle.


	8. Chapter 7: Trapped In The Card Of Hearts

Groaning, the Salamander slowly lifted his head up, looking around. "What the…" He was still drowsy, so his surrounds only appeared as a blur for the time being. After a few moments, his eyes focused, and he could see that he was in some type of high tech room, the symbols (diamond, heart, spade, club) of various playing cards plastered all over the wall. "Where am I..?" Natsu looked around the floor, only to see that he was the only person around. Too add onto this, there were no magic restrains on him. This only caused him to become more suspicious. "Hm…I don't trust this…" Natsu brought his hand up, covering it with flames; this only lasted for about 10 seconds before the flame was forcefully extinguished. "What…?"

A lacrima screen appeared in front of Natsu, revealing a smirking Heartless. "It's no use; no magic will work long in there."

"Wha!?" Natsu's eyes shifted into a glare before he roared out. "You wanna bet?! I'll tear this place down!"

"Feel free to escape all you like, it won't work," Heartless said, causing Natsu to realize that Heartless wasn't just talking to him, but there were other captives somewhere in whatever area they were in. "If you're wondering where you are, allow me to show you." Heartless took a step back, pressing a button on a machine to give the exterior view of the building they were in. The display showed a large playing card (the 7 of hearts) floating high in the sky, over a grassy plain. "Now, you can all sit there until it's time for the games to begin."

"H-Hey! Get back here!" Natsu shouted, igniting his fist once again. He knew he had time before his magic was cancelled out, so he made sure to use this time. "Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!" He exclaimed as he rushed to the nearest wall, throwing his fist at it. As soon as Natsu's fist collided with the wall, an electrical shock pulsed through his body, shocking him for a few moments in a comical fashion before he fell to the floor, smoke covering his body as he twitched for a few seconds. "Ugh…."

.

.

"Everything is going according to plan…" Heartless grinned as she turned off the display, turning around to face King, who was obviously pleased.

"Excellent work, Heartless…this was a brilliant idea." King nodded, giving Heartless a slow clap. "Now, we can really see what these guilds are capable of when pushed to the limit…"

"Everyone is in position," Heartless added before speaking once again, pulling up a screen of the members inside the card with Dealer. "From Fairy Tail we have: Natsu Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia, Gray Fullbuster, Erza Scarlet, Juvia Lockser, Wendy Marvell, Cana Alberona, Laxus Dreyar, a few Exceeds whose names escape me, and the Strauss Family."

"Were Jack and Tia unable to capture the Ace?" King asked with a brow raised.

"He, and the Master weren't there, it seems like," Heartless replied, now scrolling to the White Eclipse list. "From White Eclipse we have: Reve Volver, Tayakata, Luke Cloud, Aira Aeolus, Takeru, Kairi Ayres, Heather Viperso, Clover, and Cygnus Gwydion. The Ace wasn't there either, unfortunately, and the Master is old and sick. Capturing him would bring no merit in the end..."

"I see…and from Twilight Zone?" King asked once again, now playing with his deck of cards.

"Twilight Zone is a small guild, but from there we got: Evanee, the ace, Rylo Yukata the S class, mage, and a few other mages whose names I cannot remember…" Heartless nodded and closed the display. "Everything will go according to the plan. The things that will go down here will push these mages to their limits and beyond, just to see where we stand against them in the long run."

"Well, well…I see it's time we let the games begin then…" King let off a laugh after he spoke.

"Indeed…" Heartless nodded, looking out a window. (It's time to prove yourselves…if you cannot win against us here, then there is no hope in the long run…)

.

.

"Trapped in this cage like a common animal or something…" Cana groaned in annoyance as she paced back and forward in the cell, trying to think of a plan to get out. She wasn't alone in this cell; with her were Lucy (who called Scorpio out) and Wendy, who were trying to bust the down a wall to escape, but to no avail.

"There's gotta be some way we can get out of here!" Lucy said while focusing on the wall she, Scorpio, and Wendy were attacking. "Come on, Scorpio!"

"We are!" Scorpio exclaimed whilst using another Sand Buster on the wall, but to no avail. "My sand isn't working…there's no point of me being here if it-" before Scorpio could finish his thought, the ten seconds were up, and his gate closed, sending him back to the Spirit World. Lucy fell onto her knees, panting heavily. "Ugh…that's the second spirit…"

"Lucy-san…!" Wendy ran over to Lucy, inspecting her to make sure she was okay. "Are you okay?"

"This place is literally exhausting…" Cana said as she eyed for another way out. "With our magic only lasting ten seconds at a time, they're just waiting for us to tire out…"

"There's a way out…there always is…" Lucy said through somewhat heavy pants. "If there wasn't they wouldn't bother letting us use magic at all!"

"Maybe they're just toying with us…" Cana replied as she pulled out her deck, throwing two cards at the wall Lucy and Wendy were attacking. Once the cards hit the wall, they exploded, but the wall was undamaged. "Dammit…!"

"If only I had Taurus…He'd be able to smash through this wall…" Lucy sighed as she looked down to the ground.

"I hope Carla and the others are okay…" Wendy frowned as she took a break, sitting down on her knees.

A knocking sound echoed through the room, and the wall then turned transparent, revealing Diamond Ice. "Hello, ladies!"

"Who the hell…?" Cana quickly drew a card from her deck, throwing it towards the wall now that it looked vulnerable. This card lit up in flames as it flew forward, but once it hit the transparent wall, it merely bounced off rather harmlessly. "Tch…"

"Oh, nice cards you got there, sweetie!" Diamond said in a rather taunting tone, her sea colored orbs looking between the three. "Celestial spirit mage…Card Mage…and the Sky Dragon slayer. I got a lucky pick!"

"Lucky pick? Who the hell are you?" Cana asked as she leered at Diamond, who was clearly unfazed.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, how rude of me. I am an A class mage of Dealer, Diamond Ice!" Diamond said in a tone that made her seem higher than she really was.

"Dealer…?" Wendy blinked a few times. "Isn't that someone who hands out cards during a card game or something…?"

"…Technically, yes!" Diamond said after a brief pause. "You see, my companions are named Spade Magnes, and Club Strong. Our names are, well, based off a deck, obviously~."

"How creative…" Cana rolled her eyes in a sarcastic fashion before getting serious once again. "What do you want with us? Where are our other guild mates!?"

"Oh, simmer down, simmer down!" Diamond waved a dismissive hand, completely deflecting Cana's question. "You'll see what this is all about in due time, and I believe your guild mates are safe and sound in other cells just like yours."

"She didn't answer the question…" Lucy whispered to Cana, who merely nodded, obviously annoyed.

"Alright, Ice Princess, I'm getting really tired of your attitude…" Cana sneered.

"And I'm getting tired of the back talk…shouldn't prisoners know that talking back to the warden gets them punished!?" As Diamond spoke, a sadistic grin etched its way onto her features. She placed her hand on the center of the transparent wall, and a diamond appeared. "Punishment time!"

A computerized voice spoke after Diamond placed her hand on the wall, showing how technologically advanced Dealer was. "Name: Diamond Ice. Rank: A class mage."

"That's better than any technology I've ever seen…" Lucy took a step back, taking Wendy with her, obviously somewhat worried about what was coming.

"Yes, computer? I want you to give these lovely ladies 2 or 5, preferably 5, minutes of the second highest intensive "treatment" we have! And you know exactly where to divert the power after!"

"Yes, Diamond," The computer replied.

"T-Treatment…?" Wendy's voice shook with worry as she looked up to Lucy and Cana. In the next few seconds, the room sparked with electricity, shocking the three females intensely, shrieks of pain almost immediately escaping their mouths as their bodies quaked uncontrollably.

"Yes, yes, I love to hear the pained screams of the helpless in the afternoon!" Diamond clapped her hands once, clearly enjoying the pained shrieks. A meter then appeared on the bottom right side of the wall. Green was the color to indicate that the meter was filling up, and after about 5 minutes, the meter was halfway filled, and the "treatment" stopped. The three females fell to the floor, panting heavily as smoke flowed from their bodies. "Oh, only half…? That's not so bad, actually…" Diamond then looked to the barely conscious females, smirking. "Rest up while you can, I'll be back later." Diamond turned on her heel, walking off with a spring in her step. "They have quite a bit of magic power if 5 minutes gave half…Heartless, this idea was excellent!"

.

.

The sound of multiple weapons striking the wall woke Luke up. His vision was blurry, and he could barely make anything out aside from the symbols on the walls. He picked himself up, staggering slightly from the headrush. "Geez…" Luke placed his hand on his head; he then looked towards the wall, seeing Erza slashing the wall with her multitude of weapons, and Heather using her Poison Dragon's Iron Fist in junction with her, but nothing was working. "Titania? Oh great, I'm stuck with her…"

Upon hearing Luke's voice, Erza turned, raising a brow. "You've finally woken up, hm?"

"He's a heavy sleeper," Heather shrugged before sucking in a deep breath, poisonous fumes swirling around her mouth. "Roar…" Before she could get her roar off, the ten seconds came to an end, and she ended up coughing due to sucking in nothing but air at that point. "Ugh…this is aggravating! I refuse to be trapped in a cage again!" After shouting his, Heather angrily slammed another poison coated fist into the wall, but nothing happened.

"No dice…" Luke grunted as he leaned against the wall, not seeing any point in trying since the combined efforts of Erza and Heather weren't working. "Where the hell are we anyway?"

"The 7 of Hearts." Erza replied.

"The what…?" Luke blinked a few times at Erza's response. "A playing card?"

"In the sky," Heather continued.

"…Lovely." Luke sighed. He then turned around, only to see a transparent wall behind him turned clear, and that Spade Magnes was standing there. "Gah…!"

"HA!" Spade laughed, slapping his knee in the process.

"Ew…why is this cretin blue and red?" Heather quirked a brow as she glanced at Magner, more or less disgusted by his appearance.

"How rude…" Spade coughed as a comically annoyed face now appeared on his features.

"Who are you, and what do you plan to do with us?" Erza asked as she walked forward, face to face with Spade (with only the unbreakable wall holding her back).

"I am Spade Magnes! An A class mage of Dealer!" Spade said with pride, bumping his fist into his chest.

"Dealer? Is that really the best name you could come up with?" Luke snickered slightly.

"Okay you know what…" Spade placed his hand on the wall, the Spade symbol appearing on the center. "Computer! Zap 'em dry. Almost."

"Name: Spade Magnes. Rank: A Class." The computer said before unleashing an endless rain of electricity down on the captured trio, zapping them of their magic. The three mages couldn't help but let out screams of agony as the bolts rained down on them. A small bad appeared on the lower right side of the wall, a green bar rising to about 3/4's of the way before stopping. The three mages fell to the ground, barely conscious as smoke wavered from their body.

"G-Gah..." Luke groaned as his body twitched for a few seconds.

"W-what the hell was that...?" Heather struggled to say, attempting to move her body, but she was unable to.

"Oh man...most of that came from Titania..." Spade have an elated grin as he began to walk off. "Rest up while you can, I'll be back to suck ya all dry later."

.

.

"Well, well..." Said Jack as he walked into view of the detained Evanee and Rylo, an arrogant smirk painting his features. "Funny how easily Twilight Zone's two strongest mages got captured!"

"You are an annoying child..." Evanee sneered towards Jack, who just grinned towards the trapped ace and S class.

"I could be a lot worse, but I have to make sure I don't waste all my energy before the fun starts, you know?" Jack replied with a superior grin as he placed his hand on the transparent wall, a J appearing on the center, but he didn't do anything just yet.

"This hardly qualifies as fun," Rylo said in an agitated tone.

"Oh, you're just looking at it the wrong way!" Jack nodded a few times, his tone of voice slowly growing darker by the second. "Just think of it as...a magic trick. You like that, right?"

"And what kind of magic trick is this?" Rylo asked.

"Simple." Jack started as the computer verified his information. "First, we perform a little trick where we steal your magic." Jack's face slowly gained a grin as intense waves of electricity began to zap Rylo and Evanee, causing them to let out groans of pain. The bar on the bottom right of the wall began to skyrocket, which caused Jack's grin to widen. "And then we make you all disappear..."

.

.

"Dammit!" Natsu screamed as he slammed another flaming fist into the wall, fighting off the electrical charge that shocked him. "I WILL get out of here!" His determination rose along with his anger. A lightning aura began to surround his already flaming fist, but the ten seconds ran out, so the flame and lightning coating it dispersed, much to Natsu's annoyance. "GAH!

"Quite the noise maker..." Joker sighed as he walked to Natsu's cell.

"Tch, and who the hell are you!?" Natsu demanded to know, glaring towards the SS class mage.

"Red Joker; ace of Dealer," Joker replied.

"The ace, huh?" Natsu's glare then turned into a smirk. "Let me out right now so I can kick your ass! Or will you just stay a coward and keep me in here?"

"Your foolish taunts don't bother me, Natsu Dragneel," Joker said in a tone that literally brushed Natsu's attempts to test him off, making them feeble. "Even if you weren't in that cell, you wouldn't be able to defeat me."

Instead of Natsu getting a rise out of Joker, Joker got a rise out of Natsu, his orange aura of flames erupting around his body as he slammed his fist into the wall, but to know effect. "YOU WANNA BET!"

Joker sighed and shook his head, turning his back to Natsu. "You're not even worth the magic drain...perhaps I'll just find another one of your comrades to drain..."

"Don't you DARE touch my nakama unless you want to he burned to ash!" Natsu roared, his magic starting to shake his cell.

(So he gets stronger when his nakama are in danger...?) Joker thought to himself as he started to walk off, making a mental note of this for later, wondering if it was true for the other members.

"HEY! COME BACK HERE!" Natsu screamed, but his loud voice fell upon deaf ears as Joker walked off. "Grah! When I get out of here I swear!"

.

Cygnus, Alexander, Reve, and Tayakata could barely hold back the screams of pain as Tia throughly enjoyed draining their magic via the electric shocks. The lack of screaming brought a frown on Tia's usually calm face. "Why won't you scream?!" She had drained so much from them the bar was filled, but she wanted to hear them scream before stopping.

"W-When I get out of this..." Taya said in a low, threatening tone as she brought herself to her feet, her knees quivering beneath her. "I swear I'm going to rip you apart slowly, limb by limp, organ by organ..."

These four mages were dealing with a completely different side of Queen Tia, one she wasn't aware she had herself. It seemed she had some pent up aggression, and that she was taking it out on those four. "Just scream and I'll stop."

"You must...be out of your mind if you think we'll do that so easily..." Alexander coughed a few times, unable to bring up a bubble and attempt to port himself out due to how much magic he had lost.

"Your pride is going to be the cause of your death..." Tia merely replied as she started the process was again, the bad flashing red as it began to overload. "Just cry out! Writhe in pain!" Tia screamed with a sadistic expression covering her face.

"Whoa, whoa!" Strong immediately ran over to the scene, cutting off the process. "You're gonna overload the system if you keep that up!"

"Huh...?" Tia blinked absently a few times, now confused as to what was happening. "What was happening...?"

"Talk about blind anger..." Strong sighed. "I think you saw red again."

Tia groaned, rubbing her head. "That's not like me...that's been happening a lot since..." She then shook her head and began to walk off. "Doesn't matter, we've got what we can from the mages here today, yes?"

"That's right!" Strong nodded, following behind Tia. "And tomorrow we get more!"

"These guys are just gonna keep sucking us dry..." Cygnus groaned as he sat up. "We have to break out of here and find the others..."

"It's hard to do that with no magic," Reve replied as he winced.

"Whoever these guys are, they know what they're doing..." Alexander said as he groaned somewhat. "Their strategy caught is all off, and now we're paying the price for being unprepared...we're prisoners of war, and if we don't do something soon we'll end up dead...problem is, there isn't anything we can do."

.

.

"The magic they have to offer is astounding..." King said in amazement as he gazed at the results from all the magic drained from the captured mages. "With this, my invention will not only be complete, but full proof!"

"Indeed, King..." Heartless nodded, her brows furrowing slightly as she looked away from the data. "If nothing happens in the next 24 hours, it's safe to assume that they aren't as powerful as we thought..."

.

.

Miles away from the giant card in the sky, a pair of dragon slayers just finished their training. Now resting at a river, the two looked up at the card. "That's pretty high..." Selene said aloud as she gazed at the 7 hearts on the card.

"Gihehe...always getting themselves into trouble..." Gajeel stood up, dusting himself off. "I think it's time we put these months of training to use, eh?"

A confident grin appeared on Selene's lips, nodding to Black Steel as she too stood up. "Let's do it."


	9. Chapter 8: Escape Plan

Laxus and Taranis stood chest to chest, both glaring into each other's eyes. Laxus looked down at Taranis with a disgusted expression, a low growl emitting from his throat as he bared his teeth to the demon slayer. "Listen here..."

"No, you listen," Taranis said while cutting off Laxus. "I'm not afraid of you, lightning lizard. And I think you need to know your place; demons have been, and will always be stronger than dragons."

"I don't care what race you are..." Laxus started, now more annoyed than ever that Taranis has the audacity to cut him off. Sparks started to dance around his body, forgetting the fact magic was cut off after 10 seconds. "I'll kick still your ass."

As a response, Taranis' body also began to release sparks of electricity, and though he was shorter than Laxus, he proceeded to get up in his face, his demonic eyes showing. "You wanna bet?!"

"I-I think it's time to calm down...!" Lisanna waved her hands frantically, hoping the two slayers of lightning would calm down.

"I don't like this game we're playing..." Melanie mumbled in the corner.

"That's because this ain't a game." Laxus replied to Melanie, both her and Taranis backing off each other at the same time to avoid a scene. "It may be to them, but to us, this is serious, get it? They're after our lives, and if we don't find a way out of this hell hole, we may as well hand 'em over."

"There's gotta be some way to get out of here..!" Lisanna started. "There's just gotta be! We can still use our magic, so maybe...!"

"There just playin' with us," Taranis replied to Lisanna, a scowl still on his expression from his encounter with Laxus. "Raising hopes high just to crush them in the end. Something you humans tend to do quite often."

"Don't lump us with them..!" Lisanna protested to Taranis' words, a pout forming on her face. "Not all humans are this terrible!"

"Oh, I know you guys aren't /all/ bad, but you're still bad," Taranis scoffed before turning his back.

"I just wanna go home..." Melanie whimpered.

"Don't worry...it'll be okay..." Lisanna said in a reassuring tone as she softly placed a hand on the water dragon slayer's back.

"Aw, isn't that cute...?" Spade asked in a sarcastic tone as the wall turned transparent, revealing him to be standing there.

"Tch, back again, you multi colored freak?" Laxus asked with an irritated voice.

"Of course!" Spade replied with a grin. "How could I pass up the opportunity to see the second strongest and third strongest lightning mages alive?"

"Second?! Third?!" Laxus and Taranis shouted in unison, both immediately feeling a similar feeling of distaste from Spade's words.

"I don't know what you think you're talking about, freak," Laxus began as his tone grew more violent. "But when I get out of here, I'll be sure to show you a taste of Fairy Tail's power."

"And I'll show you the taste of the Lightning Demon's power," Taranis growled while placing down his top hat to reveal his expression.

"Yeah, yeah, I'd love to see that," Spade waved a hand, completely dismissing Laxus and Taranis' comments. "I'm sure you'll "crush" your families enemies, Laxus..." Spade then let out a laugh, turning around to walk off. "I'll be back later to sap you of your magic, so enjoy your time off."

"Tch...I'll get that bastard..." Laxus grumbled as Spade walked off.

.

.

"I don't even know why you're in here..." Takeru smirked slightly as he spoke to the shirtless Gray Fullbuster (who of course had Juvia fawning over him as usual). "Last time I checked, you were much weaker than Salamander."

"What?!" Gray took immediate offense to the comment, his expression turning into a scowl as he stepped forward to Takeru. "I'm just as strong as Natsu, if not stronger!"

Takeru smirked, enjoying the fact he was getting a rise out of Gray. "Is that so? Because you couldn't even keep up with Luke, and he didn't even have his transformation!"

"Gray-sama is not weak!" Juvia shouted as she flailed her arms in an angry, yet comical fashion.

"Tak!" Aira intervened before the confrontation could escalate. "Now isn't the time for this...!"

Takeru blew out air through his teeth, crossing his arms as Aira sucked away the fun he was having. "Hmph...Can't have some fun while we're stuck in here?"

"Juvia says we should be looking for another way out!" Juvia nodded.

"There IS no other way out," Takeru retorted with a sigh. "No matter what we do, it fails." Takeru then turned his head over to Ceaser, who seemed to be in deep thought. "...Eh? He's thinking?"

"There's a way out," Gray stated bluntly, almost as though he knew what he was talking about.

"Is that so?" Takeru raised a brow. "Then tell us, Ice Mage. What's the way out?"

"Eh..." Gray paused to think for a second, but his thought process was interrupted by an elated Ceaser who seemed to have came to a conclusion.

"I GOT IT!" Ceaser exclaimed with a large grin on his face.

"What do you have?!" Aira's hopes raised high as she looked to Ceaser, expecting an elaborate plan.

"Clouds must taste like cotton candy!" Ceaser yelled, and right after he did, everyone fell over onto their sides in a comical fashion, their legs twitching as they laid there.

"That's not a plan!" Takeru groaned whilst standing up, grunting in frustration. "Surrounded by 3 idiots, just great..."

"Sucks, huh?" Asked Club Strong as he stood in front of the now transparent wall.

"Make that 4..." Takeru sighed heavily.

"Hey, it's not nice to call your guild mage an idiot!" Strong shouted, glaring at Takeru.

Takeru blinked a few times as he stared at Strong, feeling his IQ dropping every time Strong uttered a word. "...I wasn't talking about-"

"I don't think there's any getting through to this blockhead..." Gray said while crossing his arms.

"You should let us out!" Aira said, aiming to appeal to Strong's unintelligence, but subtlety.

"I should?" Strong blinked a few times cluelessly before letting out a laugh. "Oh, that's a good one!"

"Darn it..." Aira sighed.

"He caught on that quickly...?" Juvia raised a brow. "Juvia heard Club Strong was the stupid one though..."

"Even if I wanted to!" Strong started, requipping his platinum club. "I couldn't! This stuff is virtually indestructible! See, watch!" Drawing his club back, Strong mustered all of his brute strength and slammed the club into the transparent wall...and even to his superior strength, the wall did not give. "See!? My pure brute strength is close to Joker's, and not even that could cause a scratch! You're stuck here unless you find another way out!" Strong then gave a laugh, completely forgetting why he even bothered to come down to visit the five captured mages and ended up leaving.

"Man...he's got a good arm..." Ceaser said in a slightly more serious tone. "If someone of his caliber can't break it, then we're in trouble..."

"Whoa did he just have a serious train of thought?" Takeru asked the others.

"But...in all seriousness..." Ceaser's attention wandered off to something completely unrelated. "I could really go for some Wheat Thins right now..."

"Aaaaand it's gone..." Gray sighed.

.

.

"WHAT?!" Makarov spit out his beer as he was informed on what the other members believed to have happened. "They've been kidnapped?!"

"That's what we think has happened..." Freed said as he have a slight "Tch". "It happened too quickly for us to really do anything. Lucy opened the door and the last thing I remember was pink smoke filling the room."

"How long ago was this?!" Makarov asked, his tone changing from shocked to angered.

"Well..." Levy started as she began to make mental calculations. "It was the afternoon when the pink smoke filled the guild...I was the first one to wake up, and when I did, it was already about noon...the next day..."

"So they knocked ya out for a good while..." Gildarts let out a sigh. "We leave for one day and this happens..."

"There's no need to worry...!" Romeo shouted optimistically. "Natsu's there, and Erza, Mirajane, and Laxus! There's no way they'll go down without a fight!"

"I hope that's the case..." Evergreen sighed while rubbing her head, muttering "I hope that idiot is okay..."

"Worried about Elfman...?!" Bickslow asked with a reading laugh, causing Evergreen to retract her statement.

"N-No! Of course not!" Evergreen replied.

"Is there any way to track them down?" Makarov asked.

"Sadly, no..." Levy replied with a frown. "If we had Happy, Lily, or Carla, then maybe, but they were taken too...and since we were unconscious, there's no way to tell where they went to..."

"There must be something..." Gildarts pondered.

.

.

"Agh...!" Waiston shouted out in frustration, slamming his fist the snowy ground just outside White Eclipse. "I can't believe this...! I can't pick up a scent no matter what I do!"

"Whatever they used really throws off the trail..." Adam commented while crossing his arms. "They knew what they were doing. Even my nose isn't working."

"Gah! I can't believe they caught us napping like that...literally!" Kuro grunted, letting out a heavy sigh.

"If Sidney were here maybe things would've gone differently..." Marlene sighed heavily as she looked up into the sky. "I hope everyone is okay..."

"It'll be okay...!" Skye said in a cheery voice. "Nii-san and Nee-chan are there...they'll be okay, I know they'll be..."

"And Taya's there!" Nami chimed in. "They've probably made her angry, and an angry Taya is a violent Taya..."

"It's been over a day...who knows where they are right now..." Zalen adjusted his glasses after he spoke. "We followed the foot prints left in the snow, but after a certain point they just vanish, not even before the snow leads to the rocky trail..."

"The stars say it'll be rough..." Saeko nodded. "But...they say it'll be relatively okay in the end..."

"Relatively?" Shizuka raised a brow after asking.

"Some will be different upon returning..." Saeko replied.

"I think we're worrying too much!" Almaz said with a large grin. "They're gonna make it all out safe and sound!"

"Better hope your right, kid," Adam responded.

.

.

Tartaros; the evilest Dark Guild in all of Fiore, perhaps even Earthland. Comprised of nothing but demons (barring one or two people), this guild's reputation is well kept. Maggie brought Cynthia to this place, and the little girl was rightfully terrified, as she didn't know what could happen. But, to her surprise, the last 24 hours in the literal hell hole had actually been quite fun for her. Maggie had given Cynthia to Sora (the pink haired little girl about Cynthia's age, if not a year older, and the Shadow Manipulation mage for those who don't remember). The two were in Sora's room, playing around with a variety of dresses. "How does this one look?" Cynthia asked while twirling around in a purple dress with jewels attached to the bottom.

"Oh, Cynthia looks pretty in that one!" Sora replied with a gleeful grin.

Outside of Sora's room, a few of the other members were somewhat debating the issue. Tobias groaned somewhat, rubbing his head. "Ugh...did you really have to bring her here?"

"Shut up, Tobias," Maggie immediately replied. "I brought her here for a reason, and so far, things are going rather swimmingly."

Jackal, who was leaning on a wall not too far off from the others decided to give his two cents in the topic. "Looks like Lava Girl might have finally done something right for once. We should write this down a moment in Tartaros history"

"Oh, zip it, ya mangy mutt." Maggie did her best to ignore Jackal; the two never really got along, so it was usually something like this between them.

"What's the point of bringing that child here?" Ur, the revived teacher of Gray and Lyon asked. "Last time I checked, she couldn't even control herself..."

"I thought Sora could use a friend," Maggie replied with a shrug.

"I feel like there's some ulterior motive to this..." Tobias sighed before shrugging.

In the throne room, Hades and Daityas were having a conversation about the same thing, though it was a little more private since they were in a separate area. "Daityas, I've noticed that the little girl has been growing rather fond of Sora..."

"Yes, I've noticed that as well," Daityas replied while toying with what seemed to he a lacrima in between his fingers.

"Didn't you have plans to use her for something?" Hades asked, his arms crossed.

"I did, but now isn't the time for those plans to come to fruition yet," Daityas responded with a nod.

"Not time yet?" Hades as a tad confused. "Isn't now just as good a time as any?"

"Oh, no," Daityas smirked somewhat as he looked to the confused Grimoire Heart leader. "You see...there will be a time when she's alone, that is the time to strike. It may not make too much sense now, but trust me, it will work."

Hades merely nodded. "Mm..."

.

.

The Exceeds sat in small cages, separated from one another, but they could still talk. Jack was tasked to keep an eye on the creatures, much to his dislike. Happy's stomach grumbled, causing him to whimper. "I'm hungry...do you guys have any fish around?"

"Wha...?" Jack turned around, an irritated expression on his face. "No, we don't have any fish, that's a stupid question!"

"Anything fish related is NOT stupid!" Happy shouted.

"Happy, calm down!" Carla pleaded the riled up exceed.

"Oh, no, let him rage!" Jack gave a near sadistic smile as he opened his hand, creating a purple flame in the palm of it. "It'll give me all the more reason to fry him..."

"Fire magic..." Patherlily thought to himself, though something seemed odd about Jack's fire, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Why did you have to take us, too?" Carla inquired, crossing her arms as she glanced at Jack, aiming to take the subject away from Happy.

"Heartless' orders, furball," Jack responded with his grin slowly fading because he was bored now. "She said she knew you furballs would lead your friends here if you ween't taken, so she told us to take them."

"And here we thought you and your sister were nice..." Carla sighed.

"I don't do nice, the word makes me sick," Jack gagged as he uttered the word "nice" groaning after. "I can't believe I'm stuck on furball duty, this is ridiculous...You don't have any magic worth stealing anyway!"

"Just you wait!" Happy said, gripping the bars of the cage with a large, confident smirk etched onto his features. "Once Natsu gets out of here..."

"Pfft, Salamander?" Jack didn't even try to hold back the boisterous laugh that was building up inside him. "HA! He couldn't even stand up to Sis, what makes you think he'll stand any chance against me!?"

"When Natsu's serious...you'll see for yourself..." Happy merely replied. "You made a mistake in attacking Fairy Tail like that..."

"Yeah, yeah..." Jack waved a dismissive hand. "You're gonna preach on about some nakama bull shit and how you'll all band together and defeat us. Yeah, let's take a step into reality here, eh? It doesn't matter how many of you gather up here, you stand no chance against us. We don't rely on the strength of others, we use our own strength to move forward. It's pathetic how you have to use some stupid fucking excuse to win battles you have no business winning."

"...Quite a mouth for a 13 year old..." Lily commented.

"And a hard head..." Carla mumbled.

.

.

"Ugh!" Cana slammed her fist against the wall in frustration. "Is there really no way to get out of this hell hole!?"

"We've been stuck in here for over a day now..." Wendy sighed. "I really hope the others are okay..."

"There's a way out..." Lucy kept saying, attempting to keep Cana and Wendy's spirits high. "There always is! We just have to find it!"

"They won't let us out, and the walls are so hard none of our onslaughts are working..." Cana let out a heavy sigh, now sitting cross legged on the ground. "And the worst part is that I haven't had a drink since this happened!"

While the three females continued their debate on how to escape, a pair of heels clicked down the hallway. Loudly. This caught their attention as it seemed the noise was moving closer to them. After a few seconds, the noise stopped, yet the wall didn't turn transparent to reveal who it was. "You Fairies are so predictable..." The voice said in a disappointing tone.

"E-Eh?" Cana stood up, glaring at the wall as she expected it to change. "And who the hell are you?"

Ignoring the question, the person behind the wall continued. "Always attacking what's in front of you, that's how you deal with your problems right? If you see it, attack it."

"She's not wrong..." Lucy mumbled before raising her voice to question this person. "But who are you to talk to us like that?!"

"Instead of attacking what's in front of you, why don't you keep an eye on your surroundings sometimes? Sometimes the thing you're looking for isn't in front of you, but below you." As the statement was made, the voice trialed off, noted by the sound of heels clicking against the floor.

"H-Hey! Come back!" Wendy pleaded, but it was too late.

"What was that all about...?" Cana groaned as she placed a hand on her hip. "The thing below us...?"

"Below us...?" Lucy thought for a few moments before she got an idea. "I got it!" She then reached for her keys, pulling out a silver one. "Only ten seconds...Gate of the Maiden, I open thee! Virgo!" A chime rang out before revealing the masochist spirit.

"Yes, princess?" Virgo asked with a humble expression.

"No time for talk!" Lucy then pointed down to the ground. "Drill a hole through the ground to the other side of that wall! Hurry!"

"As you wish," Virgo nodded, and began to use her magic to bore through the floor, which was no where as sturdy as the wall.

"She dug through it!" Wendy's eyes widened with delight as a ray of hope showed itself.

"Come on..." Lucy bit her bottom lip, nervously waiting the result. 6 seconds had passed. If this failed, it wouldn't be pretty. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1...

Virgo's voice came from the other side of the wall. "It has been done, princess."

"YES!" Lucy threw a fist into the air, grinning widely. "Let's go!" Without delay, Lucy, Wendy, and Cana hopped into the hole Virgo created, appearing on the other side of the wall.

"It really worked...!" Cana grinned, drawing her deck of cards once again. "Now, we get to start paying these guys back double!"

"Not double!" Lucy started as she gripped her keys again. "As Natsu would say, they're going to get payback, 100x over..."


	10. Chapter 9: The Counterattack Begins!

"I guess even the strongest need help sometimes…" Said a voice as their heels clicked on the floor. They soon arrived to Erza, Heather, and Luke's cell, and it was no surprise to them that the trio was unconscious, probably from a magic draining session just before. "Oh boy…this has been much more complicated than it needs to be…" The figure shook their head before placing a hand on the door, a card symbol appearing.

"Codename…" The computer began, but it was unable to register, and instead crashed before anything could happen. As a result, the wall turned transparent, and then it just vanished.

"That could've gone ugly…" She sighed, shaking her head. She placed a hand on her hip, and continued to walk off, not bothering to wait for the trio to awaken. "Now, there's just a few more that need a little push to get started…"

"…" Erza had been semi-conscious the entire time, but she had not been able to identify the voice nor the person whom it belonged to. She placed her hands on the ground, shakily pushing herself up with her arms. After a few minutes, she stood, albeit a bit dazed after. "Who…?" Shaking her head, the requip mage walked over to Heather first, leaning down to shake her gently in hopes to wake her up. "Heather…? Wake up…"

With a pained groan, the poison dragon slayer slowly woke, sitting up while rubbing her head. "Ugh…those cretins stole our magic again, huh…?"

"Yes, but that's not important right now…" Erza said as she now walked over to Luke, pushing him with her foot somewhat to wake him. "It appears someone has given us a get out of jail free card."

"Agh…" Luke grunted as Erza's shaking woke him up. "What's going on now…?" Luke stood up, staggering a bit from the head rush.

"We're escaping," Erza replied.

"Wait, we're finally getting out of this hell hole!?" Luke's eyes widened with excitement as his fatigue seemed to have vanished. "Perfect!"

"I trust you two will be able to handle your own?" Erza asked as he walked out of the open cage, looking down the left side of the pathway.

"Of course," Heather replied with a slight smirk, using her nose to pick up a particular scent. "Ah…so that's where she is…" Heather then grabbed Luke by the wrist, dragging him down the right side of the pathway. "You're coming with me; we have some guild mates to free."

"A-As you wish…!" Luke replied as he began to run to keep up with Heather.

Erza merely gave a soft chuckle as Heather and Luke ran off before her expression changed into a threatening one. "The first one from here I meet I'll be sure to "thank" them…" She gained a near sadistic smirk with her words, and calmly walked off, knowing she was going to encounter a member, but wasn't sure who.

.

.

Diamond strolled down a corridor, going towards Lucy, Cana, and Wendy's cell, looking forward to sapping the magic out of them. She hummed a light tune to herself as while walking, eventually reaching her destination. "Alright ladies…" Diamond said while turning on her heel. "It's time to…to…" Her eyes slowly widened and shock and the light blue haired mage let out a shriek of surprise when she noticed the hole drilled through the cell and the exit hole outside the wall. "N-NOOO! NO NO NO NO NO!" Diamond turned around, and with as must speed as she could muster, she hurried off to the command center of the giant card, flailing her arms around as she spotted King and Heartless. "K-KING! HEARTLESS!"

King gave an unamused look at Diamond's demeanor, though that didn't stop him from playing with his deck in the usual way, the only thing different was his stern tone of voice. "Diamond, what is the meaning of all your screaming? I expect your explanation to be good."

"T-They….Lucy, Cana, and Wendy…They're…They're not in their cell!" Diamond finally managed to sputter out, panting heavily from nervousness and some exhaustion from her sprint.

"WHAT?!" King threw his deck of cards down, turning his head over to Heartless.

"Heartless! Check all the lacrima screens now!" King demanded. "It would not be good if they found…" While King spoke, Heartless nodded, pressing a button to reveal the lacrima footage all over the card; on one section, there was a large explosion, and the lights briefly flashed; on the outside of the large floating card, one of the red hearts on the top left turned black, signifying something wasn't working now. "A generator…"

"Oh my…" Heartless' eyes narrowed as she watched the trio of females run away from the explosion. "We mustn't let them cause any more trouble…if all seven generators are destroyed…"

"Sound the alarm!" King said with a smirk. "I see things are finally beginning to heat up…just as I was hoping for. Now, to see if our hand is truly better than theirs…"

Diamond nodded to King's request, running over to the nearest wall and pushed a red button, sounding a loud alarm that boomed throughout the entire floating facility. "Done!" She then looked over at a lacrima screen quickly, seeing Erza Scarlet walking around all calmly. "G-Gah…! T-Titania's escaped too!"

"I'll go deal with her…" Said Heartless as she stepped down from her spot below King, and took an elevator down to the floor Erza was on. "Actually, there's something else I have to deal with first…I'll let someone else take care of her for the time being…"

"…We have an elevator…?" Diamond blinked, groaning.

"Diamond, go make sure there are no more escapees, now." King ordered.

"Y-Yes, King…!" Diamond nodded, and hurried down the stairs she previously walked up.

.

.

"Sounds like there's a riot happening!" Flynn grinned to Mirajane, Elfman, and Adacore as he took a running stance. "Let's get in on this stuff!"

"Flynn, I don't think…" Mirajane started, but the speed mage already took off.

"Mach 2!" Flynn exclaimed as he attempted a shoulder tackle to the unbreakable wall, but he just bounced off after impact, sliding across the ground on his back until he came to a stop, groaning. "Ugh…"

"A Man wouldn't be defeated by a wall so easily…!" Elfman commented.

"It's not gonna work, Flynn," Adacore sighed.

"There's gotta be something we can do to escape…!" Flynn shouted.

"We WILL escape!" Elfman exclaimed in the manliest tone possible as he used his takeover Beast Arm: Iron Bull, to change his arm into a metallic fist. "They have Lisanna in here, and as a Man I will NOT allow them to do any more harm to her!" Mustering all the physical strength he could, Elfman let out a yell as he slammed his arm into the wall…and surprisingly, it crumbled, much to everyone's surprise.

"E-Elf-nii…" Mirajane's eyes widened in shock, but it was the good type of shock.

"MAN!" Elfman exclaimed victoriously.

"I thought these walls were unbreakable…" Flynn gawked at Elfman's strength.

"The only thing unbreakable is a Man's spirit," Elfman said while holding his Beast Arm up, a serious expression on his face. "Now, we must go find Lisanna!"

"We have to find our other members too, so we're splittin' up here I guess," Said Adacore as he and Flynn took the opposite path Elfman and Mirajane were taking. The four nodded to each other and went on their separate paths.

Watching from the roof, Queen Tia sighed before groaning in an irritated fashion. "I don't believe this…The cell's run off power from the generators…those three girls are going to ruin everything if something isn't done about this…" Now falling onto the ground, sticking the landing, Tia dusted her dress off. "How did those three get free in the first place….I suppose it doesn't matter now. I'll just have to make sure this mess is cleaned up…"

.

.

(Just moments before the alarms went off) Jack played with a purple flare in his hands, giving a bored sigh. "Man, when is something interesting gonna happen…" And after he spoke, the area shook a bit, and the alarms went off. "Spoke too soon…" He hopped up, knowing exactly what the alarms meant. "I was hoping things would get interesting…" Jack looked over his shoulder, giving a daunting smirk to the trapped Exceeds. "Hey, you get to see your little friends in action, finally. Don't be too upset when we're finished."

"You're wrong!" Happy shouted with a large smirk. "This is Fairy Tail's turnaround!"

"Saying the same thing over and over again must be your magic, huh? Because damn it's annoying…" Jack then waved a hand and began to walk off. "Time to get myself in some of this fun…"

.

.

Spade walked down the corridor rather casually, despite the fact the alarms were blaring. "I don't see what the big deal is…it's not like they're gonna all escape miraculously…" Spade chuckled to himself before reaching the cell with Lisanna, Melanie, Laxus, and Taranis once again, tapping on the transparent wall to grab their attention. "I see you didn't even try to escape like your friends? Good choice, because they're all gonna fall anyway."

"Tch," Was the only response Laxus had to give. "You dunno who yer messin' with, so stop talking like you've already won."

"Oh, but we have!" Spade said as he placed his hand on the way, his symbol appearing on the center of is as he began to drain the magic of the four mages. "The game was set before it even started!" The red and blue colored mage laughed manically as the magic draining sparks danced wildly across the cell, and the green bar rose faster. "Now we're going to play our hand to the rest of Fiore and see what they have to offer!"

"G-Gah! Make it…stop…!" Lisanna cried out as she fell to her knees, her body jerking wildly from the shocking.

"I-it hurts…." Melanie whimpered as she fell onto her stomach.

"D-Dammit…" Taranis grit his teeth, refusing to fall like the females had done.

"That's right, fill that meter up nice and quick, eh?!" Spade said while laughing. The meter hit full after a few minutes just like he wanted. "Excellent! Now…" The meter wasn't stopping. "W-What?! Why isn't it stopping!?" Spade pulled his hand away from the wall, but it was a useless effort, the bar now turned red as the system began to overload.

"You want our magic so bad?!" Laxus grinned as sparks started to exit his body; he was GIVING his magic up, using it to fuel the overload.

"You can take it!" Taranis continued, sparks also flying off of his body fueling the overload as well.

"N-No! We have enough! Stop it! The system is going to cra-!" And before he could finish, a large electrical explosion occurred, blowing Spade back into the nearest wall. "GAH!"

From the smoke, the two lightning slayers stepped now, sadistic grins now on their faces as they stood a few feet away from Spade, sparks flying all around their bodies. "He's mine," Laxus stated, almost as if he was telling Taranis to back down.

"Fuck that," Taranis replied, cracking his knuckles. "He's MINE."

"Tch…" Spade stood up, dusting himself off. Despite the two he was facing, he grinned. You two really think you can take me…?"

"As long as the lizard doesn't get in my way…" Taranis replied while setting his top hat down.

"Heh…" Spade held his arms as his side. Red electricity sparking around his left (red) arm, and blue electricity sparking from his right (blue) arm. "Bring it on then!"

.

.

Erza was quite calm even though the alarm was blaring loudly. The only minor downside to this was that she couldn't hear herself think very clearly, but she didn't need to. A smile was engraved on her features, as she knew the alarm meant things weren't going the way Dealer intended it to go. "They messed with the wrong guild…" Was the only thing Erza whispered to herself as she continued on her way. Seconds passed before her senses kicked in; she jumped to the side, only to avoid a giant platinum club. The club slammed into the ground, cratering it about 20 feet; Erza's eyes widened at the power before she turned her head to Club Strong.

"Oi!" Strong exclaimed in a serious tone while drawing his club back. "What are you doin' out of your cell? I know I wasn't stupid enough to accidentally let you out…" Strong then blinked a few times, finally catching on to the fact that it was Titania whom he had stopped. "Titania!?"

"Club Strong…" Erza narrowed her eyes before she back flipped, a heavenly light enveloping her body. "Kanso!" When the light cleared, Erza was in her Black Wing Armor, and utilizing its speed, she dashed forward at a breakneck pace, swinging her sword horizontally at Strong.

"Must be my lucky day!" Strong grinned in excitement. "If I can defeat Titania, I'll be promoted to S class no problem, then Spade and Diamond will have to answer to me!" As Erza slashed at Strong, the large hulking male swung his platinum club, his brute strength becoming evident as Erza's sword flew from her hands and stuck deep into the wall to her left.

"He's strong…!" Erza thought to herself. Her thought process was cut off almost immediately as Strong continued with his swing, a backhanded one from the momentum. Erza narrowly flew up just in time to avoid the hit. The club was inches away from her, but even though she evaded the attack, she could literally feel the strength Strong had put into the attack. "His brute strength…incredible…"

.

.

"Nice job, ladies!" Cana grinned at Lucy and Wendy, who glanced back at the destroyed generator. "I don't know how many are left, but let's keep this up!"

"I agree!" Lucy nodded. "We also have to free the others!"

"I think they can take care of themselves at this point," Said Cana as she started to walk.

"Cana-san is right." Wendy gave a nod of agreement to Cana. "We have to keep supporting them the best we can! I know Natsu-san and the others will break free soon enough!"

As the three females conversed on their next idea, a card slid in from out of nowhere. The Black 1 of hearts. From the card, a person arose. This person was male, who had black hair, wore a black outfit, and almost pitch black eyes. "Oh, no no no no no!" The male squealed in an almost feminine like fashion, catching the attention of the three ladies.

"Who the hell…" Cana raised a brow at the male who squealed.

"That was quite the scream…" Lucy said with a somewhat weirded out expression on her face.

"What did you do to the generator!?" The male squealed once again before running to the generator, holding his hands out. "This will never do, no no no…." A magic circle appeared on the generator, and the destroyed pieces of it slowly game back together, fixing the machinery; the machine gave a "whirr" sound before starting back up again.

"H-Hey!?" Wendy shouted from the sudden surprise.

"We're moving again…!" Cana stumbled as the card they were all inside began to tremble once again from the reactivation of a generator.

"Much better…" The male said as his voice dropped several octaves. He turned to face the three females, adjusting his outfit. "Now, I must introduce myself…I am the 1 of Hearts…Time Arc magic is my specialty…"

"Where did you even come from…?" Lucy asked as she grip on her keys tightened.

"Heartless called upon me…" The one of Hearts replied as entered a gentlemanly stance. "If you defeat me, I'll tell you something interesting about her."

"We're taking you down anyway, so don't bother making bets!" Cana replied.

"Very well…You may call me Daigo…"

"Well, Daigo…" Cana readied her deck, looking back to Lucy and Wendy. "You're not ready for Fairy Tail's power…"

"On the contrary, my dear…" Daigo replied as he pulled out his own deck of cards. He placed one down, and a magic seal appeared under the three females.

"Watch out!" Wendy cried out, but her warning came too late. The magic circle exploded, sending the three females into the nearest wall.

"G-Gah…" Lucy groaned, rubbing her head after the impact with the wall. "W-What was that…!?"

"Pick a card, my dears…any card…" A sadistic, blood thirsty grin appeared on Daigo's face as he drew another card, very slowly at that; to savor the moment. "In fact…I'll pick for you…"


	11. Chapter 10: Game Changer

Natsu reared his head back, his cheeks puffing out as streams of fire appeared around his mouth. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu threw his head forward and opened his mouth, unleashing a funnel of orange flames that raced towards the wall; the impact was a fiery explosion, and to Natsu's surprise, the wall that had caused him so much trouble was now a pile of rubble. He knew his persistence would pay off. Now, rushing out of the cell, his flames flared around his body as he shouted, making sure that everyone could hear him. "YOU WANTED A FIGHT WITH FAIRY TAIL WELL NOW YOU'VE GOT ONE!" He spun around on his heel, his arms flaring intensely as he created a ring of fire around his body. "FIRE DRAGON! CRIMSON LOTUS!" the flames did what they were known for: Destruction. A large explosion occurred on the floor Natsu was on, surely catching some attention; just what he was aiming for. "COME ON OUT!"

From the control center, King watched as Natsu started to cause a riot in his area. Though King wasn't exactly enraged by this, he was a little aggravated. He knew things would get intense, but he wasn't exactly happy with what Natsu was doing. "Heartless…" King started, but he remembered that Heartless had gone to deal with the escapees. "Oh, yes…that's right…JOKER!"

A mere second after his name was called; the mighty SS class mage appeared to King's left, his arms crossed behind his back. "Yes, King?"

He knew Joker was there, and he didn't even have to look. Without turning to face Joker, King spoke again. "That boy with the pink hair, who is he? He is causing much more of a ruckus than I would like…"

"That would be the infamous Salamander of Fairy Tail, Fire Dragon slayer. Natsu Dragneel, son of the former dragon king, Igneel." Joker read from the dossier of Natsu. "He is one of Fairy Tail's stronger, more prominent members."

"He's loud," King immediately said, almost interrupting Joker. "I want him to be dealt with immediately. He's a wild card…in this game, wild cards are dangerous. I want to preserve our wild card until the very end."

"As you wish, King," Joker nodded and turned around, beginning to walk off. "I'll see what can be done about him."

.

.

Luke and Heather skidded to a stop in front of a cell, a slight smirk on Heather's face after knowing for sure this was the spot they wanted to be in. "Here we are…"

"Eh?" Luke tilted his head in confusion. "Whose in this cell?"

"Just watch." Heather replied as poison coated her left arm. "Poison Dragon's Iron Fist!" She called this out while drawing her arm back; she then threw her arm forward, slamming the poison coated fist into the wall. This took more than a few punches, but after a few minutes, the wall corroded from the poison and crumbled. "Structure is weaker on the outside than it is inside…"

"I was wondering how long it would take you to get here," Kairi said as she walked out of the cell, giving Heather a slight smirk.

"I told you they would come soon," Clover said as he stepped out behind Kairi. "I see you two are doing well."

"Better than ever!" Luke replied to Clover with a grin. "So, now what? We just do this for everyone else?"

"That won't be needed," Clover said while looking down the corridor.

"Why's that?" Heather asked while placing her hands on her hips, eying Clover curiously.

"We overheard a conversation while stuck in there," Kairi started. "It seems as though there are six generators around here, and if we were to destroy them, this whole place would fall."

"So we get to cause some destruction, eh? I like the sound of that!" Luke's grin widened as a black and white aura surrounded his body. "I really wanna pay these guys back, and what better way to show appreciation than smashing their things!"

"You're kinda sounding like Salamander there…" Kairi said to Luke.

"…I know and that worries me…" With an awkward cough, Luke decided to lead the way, pointing down the end of the corridor he and Heather didn't come from. "Let's go that way; we're bound to find something there!"

.

.

Three bolts of lightning crashed in the air; they then turned back into their physical states. Laxus and Taranis stood across from Spade Magnes, who was just smirking towards them. Lisanna and Melanie ran up to the two lightning slayers. "Laxus, let us help…!" Lisanna pleaded.

"No." Laxus replied in a stern tone. "This is about to get messy, so it's better if you're not around. You two can take care of yourselves, right?"

"Well, yeah…" Lisanna gave a slow nod.

"Then get going!" Laxus ordered, more concerned for the wellbeing of Lisanna and to a lesser extent Melanie than he was letting off.

"G-Good luck!" Melanie nodded before she and Lisanna ran off.

"It's good you let those two run off…" Spade smirked as he waved his hand in an arc, creating five magic seals. "It would be a shame for them to see you fall!" From the magic circles, a plethora of rockets shot out towards Taranis and Laxus. "Rocket Launch!"

"I'm gonna enjoy wiping that smug look off your face!" Taranis shouted as he entered his lightning body, using his speed to move in a zig-zag motion, evading all the incoming rockets. Laxus followed suit, taking the high road as opposed to directly charging. When Taranis was close, he allowed his lightning to engulf his hands, and he swung at Spade, landing a direct hit across his face.

"Oof!" Spade grunted at Taranis' punch struck his cheek. He stumbled back a step, but shrugged the hit off like nothing happened. "Not bad, but not good either." Spade grinned, forming a red electric sphere in his blue hand, causing blue electricity to spark around said sphere. "Lightning Burst!" Spade threw his hand forward, unleashing a powerful (but short ranged) burst of blue and red lightning towards Taranis. Since Taranis was in close range, it was nearly impossible to evade the attack, but Taranis had another idea. Demon's lightning was the most powerful lightning there was, even surpassing the lightning of Gods. Taranis opened his mouth, preparing to consume the incoming attack…but his eyes widened; he couldn't eat it. The Lightning Burst slammed into him, the impact strong enough to send him flying almost through the nearest wall.

"G-Gah!?" Taranis' top hat fell off as he pried himself from the wall, panting somewhat as he looked at Spade with a look of shock. "What the…I should've been able to eat that!"

"This isn't your normal every day lightning, Demon," Spade said with a grin. In the next instant, Laxus came in with a spinning electric roundhouse aimed for Spade's head. Spade was fast enough to narrowly avoid it, but was unable to counter. "Dreyar…" Spade's grin turned into a smirk as his signature lightning formed around his fist, and he engaged the S class slayer in close combat. Laxus threw an uppercut at Spade's chin, but Spade was faster than Laxus gave him credit for; Spade threw a blue lightning infused kick at Laxus' side, landing the hit, but Laxus held his ground, only letting out a small grunt. Spade threw yet another punch, but Laxus opened his hand and caught it.

"Fast, but not fast enough…" Laxus said as he drew his other arm back, throwing it at Spade's face for a heavy haymaker, but Spade ducked, now holding his red hand at Laxus' stomach.

"Gravity Push!" Spade's red hand placed a red symbol (a + sign) on Laxus' stomach, and the force instantly pushed Laxus away.

"Lightning Demon's…" Taranis replied as he started inhaling, but before he could finish, the pushed Laxus had slammed into him. Taranis rolled away from Laxus with a clearly angered expression. "Watch where you're going, dammit!"

"That wasn't me!" Laxus shouted back, now looking at his stomach, the red symbol was gone now. "What the hell was that…?"

"Magnets…" Spade grinned. "That's what my last name means, if you weren't smart enough to realize it earlier. Spade Mangets. But Magnes sounds better."

"Tch," Laxus cracked his neck, now signifying to Spade that the warm up was now over. "Alright, asshole. I'm done playing games." Lightning surged around Laxus before his jaw popped open, and he unleashed his Lightning Dragon's Roar towards Spade, the bolt of lightning cutting through the air itself.

"Lightning Demon's Screech!" Taranis exclaimed, finally unleashing his own bolt of lightning to join Laxus'.

As the two attacks came towards him, Spade merely smirked, closing his eyes. "Heh…" The two lightning attacks slammed into Spade, creating an electrical explosion.

"Tch, we get him?" Laxus asked as his eyes narrowed, trying to focus into the smoke.

"He would've been done sooner if you didn't get in my way!" Taranis shouted.

Light laughter could be heard coming from the electrical smoke cloud. When the smoke cloud cleared, Spade began laughing manically. "HAHAHA!"

"No way!" Laxus grit his teeth, clenching his fist as he looked at Spade in annoyance. "That should've finished him!"

"You two are idiots!" Spade then pointed to the battery pack on his chest, which was glowing, indicating that it was fully charged now. "You never took notice to this?! It's there for a reason! I'M ALL CHARGED UP!" Spade pointed his chest forward, a loud screeching sound emitting from the battery before a large burst of blue and red electricity shot out, destroying the ground it traveled with no trouble, now racing towards the two slayers. "FIRE!"

.

.

"Strong Swing!" Strong exclaimed as he brought his club down on Erza (who was now in her Flight Armor) but with her speed, he missed, and only caused another crater on the floor. "Hold still!" Strong continued to swing his club wildly, looking as though he was playing a game of Whack-a-mole, and Erza was the mole.

Erza kept her focus as she dashed from side to side; she knew being hit once would be trouble. She couldn't afford to let up on an opponent whose raw strength exceeded her own. She saw an opening. "You're open!" Erza exclaimed as she approached Strong with her blinding speed, jumping up to aim a slash on the large male.

"Too slow!" Strong exclaimed himself as he showcased his amazing reflexes. He reacted to Erza's slash perfectly, his body leaning back so that the blade was mere centimeters away from touching him. Erza was surprised that a man of his stature had great reflexes. Strong was in no position to land a hit with his club, so while Erza was still close, he swung the back of his arm at her, his strength sending the knight all the way into the nearest wall.

"GAH!" Erza yelped out as she hit the wall, but she quickly pulled herself out of it. "This will be a lot more troublesome than I thought…" Erza thought to herself as she watched Strong carefully. "Kanso!" A heavenly light wrapped itself around Erza's body, and when it faded, she was in her Heaven's Wheel armor. Wasting not a second after, the knight took off into the air, raising her arms above her head, creating a multitude of swords (estimated to be about 70) to circle around her. "Dance, my blades!" The blades then spun around in a circle around Erza before launching themselves towards Strong.

"Eh?!" Strong's eyes widened somewhat at the incoming blades, but he didn't fret for very long. No, instead he began to spin around, quickly gaining speed as a cyclone of wind appeared around him. This protected him from most of the incoming swords as they flew off to the side before they could strike him, but the last two swords slashed his shoulders, causing him to grunt and stop, blood now trailing from his shoulders to his arms from two decently sized cuts. He didn't have time to look them over as Erza took this opportunity to fly forward, her two swords now raised over her head.

"You're finished!" Erza yelled as she brought the swords down, but Strong showed he wasn't done yet; he clasped one hand on Erza's swords just before they could slash him; of course his hand was bleeding due to the sharpness of the blades, but he stopped Erza's momentum completely, causing her eyes to widened once again, and her pupils to shrink.

"Sorry, but I think you're the finished one here…"

.

.

Luke, Heather, Kairi, and Clover sprinted down a corridor, coming to a left turn. When they turned, they had a straight forward path ahead of them; one that led to a generator, no doubt. But that's not what caught their attention first. Heartless was standing there, waiting for them. "Oi, move it or loss it!" Luke shouted.

"Careful…" Heather placed her arm in front of Luke to stop him from doing anything rash. Her eyes narrowed as she looked over Heartless. "Something about this woman bothers me…"

"Aside from the fact that's she most certainly the enemy?" Clover asked.

"Where do you four think you're going?" Heartless inquired while keeping her eyes on the group.

"Where do you think?" Kairi almost immediately replied, stepping forward. "If you want to get in our way, that's fine with me. I can show you what happens when you decide to pull a plan like this…"

"Hm…" Heartless observed Kairi now, a slight smirk appearing on her lips. "Interesting…Angel Soul: Lucifer…doesn't seem like the angel has completely submitted to you yet because you're not powerful enough to control it…but you're still powerful nonetheless…"

"W-What…?" Kairi was taken aback by Heartless' words. "How do you know about that…? Who are you?"

Luke stepped up next to Kairi, glaring at Heartless now. "Oi, you just gonna stand there, or are you going to move? We can do this the easy way or the hard way, I'm fine with either!"

Heartless ignored Luke, now drawing two cards with the Heart symbol on them. "You two will do quite nicely…" In one swift motion, before Luke, Clover, or Kairi could react, Heartless threw the two cards towards the copy mage and the angelic mage.

"Look out!" Heather shouted as she pushed Luke and Kairi out of the way, the two cards latching onto he; one on her head, and the other on her chest, just around where her heart was located. A large heart symbol appeared before Heather, and magical sparks flew, the area started to shake as Heather let out a shriek of pain.

"H-HEATHER!?" Luke quickly stood up, running over to Heather with Kairi.

"W-What happened?!" Kairi asked as she looked at Heather with an immensely concerned look.

(That wasn't supposed to happen…) Heartless thought to herself as she turned around, starting to walk off. (Two control cards on one person…who knows what the effects could be…oh well…I suppose we'll find out…)

"She's getting away…" Clover commented.

"You two go after her!" Luke said while Heather fell to her knees. "I'll keep watch on her!"

"Be careful…" Kairi warned Luke as she and Clover ran off.

"Right…" Luke nodded as Kairi and Clover ran off. Heather's eyes flashed from their usual teal color to red as the double effect of the cards took their effects, but Luke didn't notice it yet…

.

.

Wendy took in a quick breath, her head leaning back as she did so; the young sky slayer then threw her head forward, a light blue magic seal appearing before her. "Sky Dragon's Roar!" As she called this attack out she exhaled, a cyclone of wind forcefully passed through her lips and raced towards Daigo, the 1 of hearts.

"Hm…Interesting…" Daigo stated, his stoic position unwavering. He drew a card from his deck with his index and middle finger, and held it up. "Barrier." Just before Wendy's roar could strike him, an invisible force blocked the roar just feet away.

Wendy stopped exhaling; her eyes now wide as she witnessed her roar have no effect. "W-What?"

"Think you're slick, huh?" Cana drew out her own card, now throwing it down a few feet in front of her. "The Prayer's Fountain!" The card mage exclaimed as the card unleashed beams of water to strike from all directions, leaving Daigo's dodging options limited to the point where he essentially had none.

An annoyed "Hrn…" was audible from Daigo as he realized he had no options to begin with. He merely jumped back, a beam of water now rushing toward him. With outstanding flexibility, he contorted his body in a fashion that made the beam of water just miss him, much to the female's surprise. "That water is quite dangerous…and it would get my suit wet, I can't have that…"

"He's so calm…" Lucy said in a slightly threatened tone.

"He's mocking us…" Cana spoke through gritted teeth, though she knew she, Lucy, and Wendy had the advantage due to the fact Daigo's movements were limited. "Lucy!"

"Huh…? OH!" An idea came to Lucy, which obviously came to Cana first. She pulled out a golden key, and inserted it into the base of the Prayer's Fountain. "Gate of the Water Bearer, I open thee! Aquarius!" A bell chime rang out before the usually ill-tempered water spirit appeared.

Aquarius shifted her eyes over to Cana immediately, a glare present. "Oh, you again, hmmm?" The two were now forehead to forehead, though Cana had honestly tried to avoid the confrontation, Aquarius made her blood boil; there was really no other way around that.

"C-Cana-san…!" Wendy waved her arms around frantically before trying to push the two apart.

"A-Aquarius! Attack that guy, please…!" Lucy somewhat commanded, her voice a bit shaky as she was afraid of what Aquarius would threaten her with this time around.

Lucy had a right to be afraid, Aquarius was pissed. She now shifted her gave over to Lucy, her appearance more menacing than ever before, causing Lucy to comically shrink as the spirit towered over her. "I was on a date with Scorpio! And I specifically told you NOT to call me for the rest of this month! You better make this good or I swear to everything in the Spirit World…"

"I-I'm sorry!" Lucy bowed apologetically for a second or two before her serious demeanor retuned, and she pointed at Daigo, who was watching the entire thing with a somewhat amused look on his face. "We need to get out of here and blow that thing up again, but we need to take him down first!"

With a groan, Aquarius complied to Lucy, but of course it wasn't the order Lucy wanted. Fine, I'll make it QUICK!" Swinging her vase around, Aquarius gathered up all the water in The Prayer's Fountain, and swung said vase all around, unleashing a large tidal wave of water that first swept up Cana, Lucy, and Wendy, and wasted no time making its way towards Daigo.

"Oh my…" Daigo rolled his eyes at the tidal wave, sticking his hand out. "We've no use for you…" A magic circle appeared on the tidal wave, and the water evaporated, causing the females to fall to the ground.

"What?" Aquarius' everlasting glare now switched to Daigo. "What the hell did he just do?"

"He evaporated the water…?!" Cana spoke in shock before standing up. "This guy is really getting on my nerves now!" Taking three more cards into her hands, the usually drunk mage swiped them across the air, sending three ice lances towards Daigo. "Ice Lance!"

"Time Ark, remember?" Daigo repeated in a monotonous voice, swiping his hand across the air once again. The Ice Lances vanished into thin air, leaving the three females speechless. How were they going to beat him?


	12. Chapter 11: Battle Royale

Ruika was watching the events transpiring between Fairy Tail, White Eclipse, and Dealer through her magical eye, all from the comfort of her own seat. Maggie, Ur, and Kiora gathered around the celestial mage to see what was going on. "This is priceless!"

"What's going on…?" Ur asked in an obviously curious tone.

"White Eclipse, Twilight Zone, and Fairy Tail got themselves caught by some no name guild!" Ruika said in a mocking tone.

Cynthia, having overheard the conversation, brought her current play date with Sora to a halt. "Wait, what?! They've been kidnapped?!"

"Oi, mind your own business ya little runt…" Maggie said while waving Cynthia off, now turning her attention back to Ruika. "What's goin' on with those blokes?"

"They're just battling it out now…" Ruika replied. "It's priceless because the so called strongest guilds in Fiore ended up getting caught in such a predictable trap…"

Cynthia turned to Sora, bowing apologetically. "Sorry Sora, but I have to go and save my family now!"

"Cynthia has to go so soon…?" Sora tilted her head, a slight frown appearing on her features before replacing with a smile. "That's okay! Sora had fun with Cynthia!"

"We'll have to do this again sometime!" Cynthia nodded, finding herself bowing to the females of Tartaros for their surprising hospitality (aka not harming her in anyway) and quickly made her way out of Tartaros Castle.

"…She doesn't even fucking know where she's going, does she?" Kiora asked while sharpening her scythe, an indifferent expression taking over her face.

"Nope." Ruika replied.

.

.

Natsu continued his rampage through the interior of the card. If anyone knew him, they'd know being sneaky was not in his forte. He was basically just looking for someone to come and approach him. "OI OI! SOMEONE GET OUT HERE AND FIGHT ME ALREADY! YOU WANNA BE SNEAKY AND ATTACK WHEN WE'RE DOWN BUT DON'T WANNA FACE US WHEN WE'RE STANDING!? COWARDS!" Natsu wasn't exactly sure if anyone could hear him, but he was going to make damn sure someone would. Since he was going more off of instinct than anything else, the scent he picked up seemed unfamiliar. He grinned. Finally, he'd get the chance to show these bastards what happens when they messed with his guild. The person was around the corner, he could sense it. With flames around his fist, he lunged from the corner, shouting. "I GOT YOU!" Natsu swung his fist, landing a hit on whoever it was around the corner, but the person hit him at the same time, causing Natsu to stumble back. "Gah!? Gray!?"

"Agh!? Natsu!?" A now shirtless Gray was just as surprised to see Natsu as Natsu was to see him. However, the two were immediately forehead to forehead, glaring at each other. "What are you doing getting in my way!?"

"You got in my way ice breath!" Natsu replied as he shot a glare into Gray's eyes.

"You got in MY way, squinty-eyes!" Gray shot back before pulling back, grumbling as he realized that this wasn't the time for another argument between he and Natsu.

"Oi! I'm trying to find at least one of those bastards so I can pay them back!" Natsu shouted, turning around and walked off in the direction opposite of Gray.

"You can count me in on that too!" Gray replied, now walking on Natsu's side.

"Gray-Sama…!" Juvia shouted, panting from exhaustion. She watched as Natsu and Gray walked off, but she assumed they were now out of ear shot since they didn't hear her. "Juvia must catch up to Gray-Sama…"

"I don't think you'll be doing that anytime soon…" A voice said as their neared Juvia.

"Wha-?" Juvia immediately turned around, a look of shock appearing on her face. She was unable to react as ice appeared around her person, freezing her over. Not only this, but diamonds appeared around the ice to ensure immobility. Juvia, now trapped in a diamond ice structure, fell on the ground with a thud.

"Hehe…Don't' even try escaping…I know you can melt ice, which is why I used diamonds as a precaution." Diamond snickered as she lifted the captured Juvia over her shoulders. "Ugh…She's heavy…Now, I have an ice boy and a dragon slayer to freeze over…" Diamond then began to hum a tune to herself as she followed the path Natsu and Gray took.

.

.

Laxus and Taranis stood up slowly, the two slayers covered in bruises and cuts after Magnes' last attack. "Can't use electricity on this guy…? How annoyin'…"

"I don't know any other element but…" Taranis said while scowling at Magnes.

"If you two wanna give up now and go back into your cells like good mages, I'll be all fine with that. It's only going to go downhill from here." Magnes said while rolling his neck, his confidence leading into his bluff. "That was only the warm up; I'll gladly show you two what I can do when I get serious."

"Get serious…?" A smirk soon appeared on Laxus' lips. "You don't know who I am, do you?" As Laxus asked this, he stood up straight, rolling his neck and shoulders, getting out any stiffness that happened to remain in them. His ego was showing once again, and he was planning to show Spade why Laxus was an S class mage of Fairy Tail. "Let me tell you something, Magnet Man…" As Laxus spoke, sparks began to dance around his body, which slowly began to bulk up in size. "I'm the strongest S class wizard in Fairy Tail…Fairy Tail happens to be my family, and you made enemies of Fairy Tail with this little stunt you pulled…" Laxus' pupils completely vanished by this point, his upper body so bulked his shirt ripped off, scales appearing on his newly revealed arms; Laxus entered Dragon Force. "And I crush my family's enemies…"

Taranis eyes widened as he watched Laxus' transformation. "Whoa…." He was speechless, never had he actually seen such a transformation, even when Evanee was formally a dragon slayer, he never got that far against her. He shook himself out of his amazement and shifted his glare back at Magnes, black sparks erupting around his person.

A sweat drop appeared on Magnes' head as he watched Laxus enter Dragon Force, and Taranis' sudden burst of power. "O-Oh…? You won't beat me just because you have a little boost in power!"

Wordlessly, Laxus activated his Lightning Body. With his increased speed, he appeared behind Spade, his fist raised together high above his head, his fingers interlocked with electricity dangerously sparking around them. "Jaw of the Lightning Dragon!" Laxus slammed his fists into Spade's head, the downward force so powerful Spade bounced and flew forward, right towards Taranis.

Taranis pulled his fist back as Spade unwillingly flew towards him. As soon as Spade was in arms reach, Taranis swung his lightning coated fist into Spade's jaw, the impact sending him flying backwards, leaving the Dealer mage in between the two lightning slayers. "Kehehe, what's wrong?" Taranis said with a taunting tone, now feeling his second wind come back to him. There was no way he'd let Laxus show him up. "I thought you were getting serious!"

"T-Tch…this isn't even close to over…" Spade replied as he shook of what he could of the impacts from Laxus and Taranis. His head hurt to say the least, but he had bigger things to worry about. Spade extended his arms to his sides, pointing them at Laxus and Taranis; this created a blue magic circle on Taranis' chest, and a red magic seal to form on Laxus' chest. The blue seal changed into a minus sign, while the red seal changed into a plus sign. "Opposites attract…" Spade smirked and immediately rolled out of the way; the two signs reacted to each other, forcing Laxus and Taranis to fly forward until the slammed into each other, struck together for a few moments before they stood back up, brushing off the attack as if nothing happened.

"That it…?" Laxus brushed his shoulders off, a large, fangy smirk appearing on his lips. "And to think you talked a big game…"

"T-This isn't possible…!" Spade's eyes widened; why weren't his attacks having any effect?! Laxus placed one hand at his side, gathering an immense amount of electricity. He smirked towards Spade, and in the next instant (with use of his superior speed) he appeared at Spade's chest, slamming his lightning infused palm into the battery pack. "Y-You idiot!" Spade merely grinned as the battery began to absorb the electricity Laxus was putting into it. "You're just charging me up again!"

"Think again." Laxus merely replied as his grip suddenly tightened.

"E-Eh…?" Spade looked at his battery pack, his eyes now widening from shock (no pun intended) once again. The pack was fully charged, but Laxus continued to input electricity. "N-No! Stop! You're gonna make it overload!"

"Oh really…?" Laxus chuckled slightly, a near sadistic chuckle at that.

"NO!" Spade cried out, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. His battery pack exploded from the overload; Spade was sent flying back, hitting the ground on his back. He winced as there was now a gaping hole in his chest. He looked up, but that was all he had time to do. Laxus and Taranis came down with electric axe kicks, the impact causing a tremor that shook the floating card as a whole. Spade was defeated after such a blow.

.

.

King watched the battle between Spade, Laxus, and Taranis intently. He nodded slowly as Spade was defeated, a slight smirk curling onto his lips. Though he was upset that Spade failed to win, he was more pleased with the fact things weren't as one sided as he originally thought they would be. "Ho ho ho…Interesting…Heartless…oh yes, that's right…I keep forgetting…" King shook his head, grabbing a nearby lacrima. "I'll keep this information down for later…"

.

.

Strength. Erza pretty much had Club Strong figured out by this point in their battle. Club Strong had immense physical prowess, which in turn added to his amazing speed, agility, reflex, and even his stature. However, Erza noticed one thing; Strong's lack of magical attacks. This led her to believe that Strong's only real magic was the use of his club, and everything else was just his pure strength. With this in mind, Erza came up with multiple strategies to defeat Strong, and with her armors, these plans would certainly be possible. "Kanso!" The scarlet haired knight exclaimed as a heavenly light surrounded her body, now entering her Flame Empress Armor.

"You're getting kinda annoying now…" Strong let out a heavy sigh as he gripped his club once again. "I'll be sure to end this quickly now…" With that thought, Strong ran forward, his club raised high above his head. He swung his club down towards Erza, who merely dodged by jumping into the air. Strong's swing caused the ground to crater and a small shockwave to follow; Erza avoided the strike altogether. "E-Eh!?"

"I've learned how you fight…" Erza replied as she performed a flip in the air, her sword catching fire. Before Strong could react, Erza landed a flaming slash across the chest of the gargantuan male, burning through his clothes with ease and his skin. Strong let out a yelp of pain as he staggered back, holding his chest. Erza landed on her feet into an offensive position, but there was balance mixed in in case she had to perform a sudden defensive maneuver.

"Y-You little…" Strong groaned before regaining his composure, a sly smirk forming on his lips. "That's fine…it's nothing I can't heal off…"

"Heal off…?" Erza raised a brow at the last two words, beginning to wonder if she was wrong about her assumptions around Strong. Strong's cheeks puffed out, similar to how a dragon slayer would unleash their roar. But instead of letting out a roar, Strong spit out several large walnut seeds that tumbled towards Erza in a Vulcan style fashion. "W-What!?" Erza went on guard, bringing her sword up. She dashed forward, slicing through the first walnut seed, then the second, then the third. The fourth almost made contact with her, but she rolled to the side to avoid it. Unfortunately for Erza, the fifth seed caught her after she rolled; the seed split open and vines shot out, wrapping around Erza and constricted her movement. A red flash appeared around Erza and the vines, resulting in Erza immediately letting out a pained shriek as the vines sapped her vitality, giving it all back to Strong. The gash on Strong's chest from moments ago vanished instantly, leaving Strong with a grin. The vines faded, and Erza fell to her knees, panting heavily as she processed what just happened.

"Ahhh…" Strong now released a content sigh. "Good as new…That was my Drain Seed attack, how'd you like it?"

"T-Tch…" Erza slowly stood up, obviously feeling drained from the attack, but she still stood her ground.

"You know…" Strong flexed his muscles as he spoke. "I'm feeling so energized, I can do…THIS!" Strong ran forward, his speed so great it was almost as if he teleported, club raised high above his head.

"!" Erza gasped at the speed, having no time to actually dodge, so she went to the next best thing. Another light surrounded her body and she appeared in her Adamantine Armor, which was able to withstand the powerful swing, though the ground under Erza cratered. What happened next was what shocked Erza; Strong continued to swing his club, over and over, showing no signs of fatigue. Each hit slammed against Erza's armor, and the ground continued to crater under Titania's feet.

"I can do this all day!" Strong exclaimed, and it didn't seem like an exaggeration either.

"Ugh…" Erza groaned to herself, feeling her armor starting to crack under the seemingly nonstop strikes Strong was delivering. She didn't have much time before she was left defenseless, so she had to act quickly. Her armor continued to crack before there cracks all over the armor. One swing finished off the famous defensive armor, and hit Erza, no noise coming from the scarlet knight after impact.

"Heh…" Strong gave off a smirk. "Titania, down…" Seconds passed before Strong felt his club move, and it wasn't on his own accord. "H-Huh?!" Erza raised the club over her head, now in her Giant's Armor, the perfect armor to match Strong's physical strength. Strong was taken aback by Erza's newfound strength. "O-Oi! You think you can match me in a contest of strength!?"

"Let's find out!" Erza replied as she now gripped Strong's club, lifting the large male up by it.

"W-Whoa!?" Strong's eyes widened, he was beating beaten in a contest of strength already!? Erza began to spin around, taking Strong with her. Every complete rotation was faster than the last until Erza released her grip, sending Strong flying into the nearest wall; a large dent forming after Strong hit it. "GAH!" Strong pulled himself from the wall, charging towards Erza once again. "You just got lucky! Strong Swing!"

"This isn't luck," Erza merely replied as she now had her momentum back. As Strong swung, she brought up a singular arm, catching the club in one hand, though the force did cause the floor around her feet to cave in somewhat, but she was fine. Erza's grip tightened on the platinum club, catching it to crack. "This is the strength of a Fairy Tail wizard." With that final line, Erza's crushing grip completely shattered the club, leaving Strong speechless. Erza drew her fist back and slammed it into jaw of Club Strong, sending the brute flying into the nearest wall, only to fall on the ground on his stomach after, X's in his eyes to signify his defeat. "That's only a fraction of the pain you deserve…" Erza stated as she requipped back into her Heartz Kruz armor, and turned her back, starting to walk off.

Strong gave a small, inaudible cough. He looked up; noticing Erza was walking away as if she won. "Not so fast…" Strong held his hand up, creating another platinum club in his hands. He drew his arm back, and threw it forward towards Scarlet. "This isn't over yet!"

"Huh…?" Erza turned at the voice, her eyes widening as the club was flying towards her. She would've braced for impact, but the club stopped just a few inches before her. "…?"

"You should be on your guard more; otherwise idiots like him are going to take you out…" Tayakata said while using a vector to grip the club.

"Tayakata…" Erza raised a brow before turning back at Strong, who had the color drained from his face.

"Oh no…." Strong whimpered.

Tayakata cracked her neck, a sadistic vintage appearing on her features. "Now then…" Using her vector, she slammed the club Strong attempted to use on him, over and over. She needed to get her anger out for what happened, and this was certainly the best way for her to do it. Though, she was probably enjoying it more (than she should have) as her anger began to diminish. With one final swing on Strong's head, she was done. Strong was certainly KO'ed by this point. "That was nice…" Tayakata dropped the club and turned on her heel, walking off with Erza now.

.

.

"Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!" Wendy called out as she aimed an upside down kick (her leg covered in blue wind of course) towards Daigo's head, but the male dodged it by sliding to the side, and Wendy hit the ground.

"Too slow, darling…" Daigo replied while fixing his suit.

Cana swung a set of three cards once again, sending three ice lances towards Daigo once again. "Ice Lance!"

"You know that doesn't work…" Daigo said as he started to wave his hand to activate his Time Ark magic, but Lucy wrapped her whip around his arm before he could. "What?!"

Not so fast!" Lucy exclaimed with a grin.

"Agh!" Daigo grunted as the three ice lances landed, causing him to slide back a foot. "Not bad, ladies…" Daigo gave a head nod of respect before gripping the arm that Lucy had her whip wrapped around. "But not good, either…" With a tug, Daigo pulled Lucy over to him, his other fist pulled back.

"Wah…!" Lucy yelped as she was pulled forward, only for the wind to be knocked out of her by Daigo's next strike, a powerful punch to her stomach which sent her flying back, rolling across the floor with her whip at her side. "Ugh…"

"Lucy-san…!" Wendy turned to see if Lucy was alright, and it seemed as though she was. Wendy jumped into the air, her arms by her sides. "Sky Dragon's Wing Slash!" Wendy swiped her arms forward, unleashing a blue hurricane of wind towards Daigo.

"Barrier!" Daigo exclaimed once again, creating a powerful barrier around his person that shielded him from the attack.

"This is getting us nowhere…" Cana groaned while preparing another set of cards.

"We have to hit him fast…" Lucy said as she slowly brought herself to her feet.

"Arms, Armor, and Vernier!" Wendy yelled out, using her support magic to boost the stats of herself, Cana, and Lucy.

"Stat enhancers…?" Daigo raised a brow. "Interesting…"

"Gate of the Lion, I open thee!" Lucy began as she quickly whipped out one of her most trusted keys. "Loke!" A golden shine appeared on the tip of the key, and Loke appeared, fixing the cuffs on his wrist.

"You called, Lucy?" Loke asked in a serious tone.

"Yeah! You know what to do, Loke!" Lucy exclaimed as she pointed towards Daigo.

"Of course…" Loke grinned, always enjoying beating up those who brought harm to his owner and love interest. Loke ran up to Daigo, activating his Regulas. "Regulas…"

"That's not going to work…!" Daigo started as he drew his fist back, preparing to clash with Loke's by throwing his prematurely.

Loke saw this coming, and ducked down, avoiding Daigo's fist while his own fist was now wrapped in a bright light. "Impact!" Loke landed a roaring uppercut on Daigo's chin, causing him to stagger back, now off balance. Loke jumped back to Lucy's side after.

"He's ours now!" Cana shouted with a grin as she threw a card down onto the floor. "Jolt of Fate!" From the sky (or ceiling at least) a powerful bolt of electricity brought itself down on Daigo, shocking the male vigorously, keeping him locked in place.

"Finish him off, Wendy!" Lucy shouted.

"Right!" Wendy nodded now turning to Daigo. Her cheeks puffed out as a light blue and red magic seal appeared before her mouth. "Roar of the Omega Flame Sky Dragon!" Wendy threw her head forward, unleashing a mixture of blue winds and omega flames towards the paralyzed Daigo.

"Noooo!" Daigo barely managed to say before the roar slammed into his person, sending him flying into the generator he fixed, which ended up destroyed again. A large explosion took place, signifying the generator was totaled.

.

.

King was shuffling around the main room until a particular alarm went off, though it was cut off by a two second black out thanks to the generators destruction. It caught his attention quickly, so he looked around at the many monitors to see what was happening. "That alarm…is that magic somewhere in this place…? Ho ho ho…"

.

.

"We beat him!" Wendy jumped for joy.

"Thanks for your help, Loke," Lucy smiled and gave a nod to Loke, forcing a gate closure to not waste anymore magic and before he could hit on her again.

"N-Not bad…ladies…" Daigo said as he sat up in the remains of the generator. "You have beaten me…so I will tell you about Heartless like I promised."

"You don't need to do that…but whatever…" Cana merely shrugged her shoulders and crossed her arms.

"Heartless is an S class mage here, if you weren't aware. She is a very peculiar person…do you know why?" Daigo asked the rhetorical question purposely. "I'll tell you…years ago she made a deal with the devil himself. She exchanged her heart – not her soul – but her actual heart in exchange for particular magic…enchantment, actually."

"Wait!" Wendy blurted out. "Are you saying she really has no heart?! How is that possible…!?"

"When you make a deal with Satan, anything is possible, dear." Daigo then continued. "But, she betrayed Satan, a foolish mistake indeed. She is now King's right hand man…"

"This enchantment…" Lucy's eyes shifted to a serious stare. "Tell me more about it…"

"Control. Heartless uses cards that can control the minds of those weaker than her." Dagio explained. "And once they fall under her control, there is no getting those people back., for they lose their hearts…"

"Liar!" Lucy immediately responded. "I WILL get Taurus and Gemini back! I love my spirits and I refuse to let them fall to the hands of some demon!"

Daigo merely shook his head, a slight smile on his face as his body began to vanish. "You may be able to love something with no heart…but something with no heart cannot love you back…" With that, Daigo's body completely vanished, leaving the three females standing there.

"Come on…we have to go find the others…" Cana said while placing a hand on Lucy's shoulder in a comforting fashion.

.

.

Luke kept watch over Heather, hoping nothing bad would happen to her in the long run. After a few minutes, her screaming died down. "Heather…are you okay…?" Luke asked.

Heather remained silent. Her eyes opened, but they were no longer teal, they were read. The Heart symbol now engraved on her chest and head. Poison covered her fist and she immediately slammed it into Luke's face, causing the copycat to stagger back. "I'm doing better than okay…" a sadist persona now took over Heather as she stood up, grinning towards Luke.

"Agh…!" Luke shook his face, unable to feel it due to the poison. "H-Hey!? Heather…?! What's gotten into you…!?"

Heather cracked her knuckles and her neck, a purple aura floating around her body. "I am now a member of Dealer…and it is my job to dispose of any intruders. Starting with you."

.

.

Kairi and Clover caught up with Heartless in a generator room, the second one to be precise. "It appears we've cornered her…" Clover said while glancing at Heartless, who hand her back turned to the two.

"Tell us where the others are." Kairi demanded.

Heartless sighed, pulling out two cards from her dress pocket; a card with a flame symbol on it and a card with a thunderbolt on it. "It's time for you two to prove your worth…" Heartless turned and threw cards on the floor. From the flame card, Taurus Fire rose up, giving off a loud moo, and from the lightning card, Gemini Spark Red and Blue appeared side by side.

"W-What the hell are those things?!" Kairi's eyes widened as she took a step back.

"Take care of those two." Heartless nodded, and vanished in a vortex of, well, hearts.

"Oh, finally, some entertainment!" Gemini Spark R grinned.

"MOO!" Taurus Fire exclaimed while looking at Kairi, his body literally flaring up even higher while hearts appeared in his eyes. "What a nice body…!"

"W-What?!" Kairi took another step back, now feeling uncomfortable.

"I can't hurt such a nice body!" Taurus Fire shouted.

"Yeesh…" Gemini Spark B sighed before pointing at Clover. "Then take him!"

"What?" Taurus Fire glanced at Clover…more so his red hair. His eyes turned a blazing red before charging towards the elemental make mage, who was clearly caught off guard.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Clover flailed his arms in a comical fashion, but that didn't stop Taurus Fire from ramming into him.

"Looks like we get the pretty lady!" Gemini Spark R and B said in unison, pointing their connected arms towards Kairi. "Gemini Thunder!"


	13. Chapter 12: Separable

"Ho ho ho…" King chuckled to himself as he watched the defeat of Strong and Daigo at the hands of Fairy Tail and White Eclipse. "So far, things are taking an interesting turn…ho ho ho…" The master of Dealer placed his elbows on the table, shuffling his deck of cards. "So far one out of six generators have been destroyed…Strong, Spade, and Daigo have been defeated…but in their stead, Heartless' pets, and the poison female from White Eclipse, have taken the field…I shall continue to watch, and see how this new hand will play out…"

.

.

Tia, who showed no interest in the current situation at hand, sighed as she kept watch over the Exceeds, since Jack had abandoned his post to go have some fun, much to her annoyance. The Queen crossed her arms over her chest, letting out a heavy sigh. "I can't believe I'm stuck watching you felines…"

"We're not too happy about this either…" Carla replied in a sassy tone.

"Shut up, furball…" Tia replied before she took in a deep breath, letting out a sneeze after. "Ugh…"

Happy expression suddenly turned into a devious one. "She's allergic to cats…"

"I am not…" Tia replied while sighing heavily. "Can't a person sneeze?" Happy stuck his tail out of his cage, brushing it against Tia's nose, letting out a devious snicker. "A-Ah…CHOOO!"

"HAHA!" Happy grinned victoriously.

"Happy…" Carla let out a sigh, shaking her head.

"Alright that's enough of you furballs…" Tia's expression darkened as she took a step back from the cage.

"Over here!" Natsu shouted as he and Gray slid into the room where the four were. "Happy!"

"Natsu!" Happy gained comical tears as his eyes widened.

"Oi! Weren't you just visiting the other day!?" Gray asked as he glanced at Tia. "Actually you were the one who beat Natsu…"

"She's one of them!" Lily shouted over to Gray.

"One of them, huh?" Natsu's expression darkened for a second before he gained the largest grin possible. "Finally found one of ya…"

"Natsu, she beat you in one hit, remember?" Carla cautioned.

"I wasn't serious enough back then!" Natsu replied as flames covered his body. "But now's a different story!"

"It's about time…!" Gray said as he slid into his ice-make stance.

"I was also the one who kidnapped you, along with Jack, of course…" Tia replied while shaking her head. "It's been so long since I've seen any real challenge…being an S class mage really does have its boring points sometimes…but, as a member of Dealer, it is my duty to make sure you two return back to your cells…"

"Be careful, you two…she's different…" Lily warned the ice and fire mages.

"Then again, I don't think you two are needed anymore for the plan…" Tia spread her arms out, a slight smirk curling onto her lips. "Kanso…" A heavenly light appeared around Tia, identical to Erza's requip. In fact, this was exactly what it was; a requip. Pink armlets covered Tia's arms, a full, feminine breast plate followed, and her lower body was covered by a thick magenta skirt. A visor appeared over her eyes, along with a blue crown on the top of her head. To complete the change, a staff with a circular top appeared in her hands. "Queen's armor…You may now refer to me as Queen Tia.."

"A requip mage?!" Carla's eyes grew in size at the transformation.

"I don't care what kind of mage she is!" Natsu roared as his flames intensified. "It's time for payback!" Natsu's cheeks began to swell up, firing swirling around his lips. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" The Salamander threw his head forward, unleashing a large funnel of flames towards Queen Tia.

"Hmph…Useless…" Queen Tia sighed as she brought her staff in front of her, creating a barrier of water around her person, completely blocking the flames.

"A water mage…?" Natsu grit his teeth, but he didn't let his blocked roar stop him; he did what he always did, kept moving. Natsu ran forward, the flames around his body now focused on his fist. "Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!" With a shout, Natsu threw his flaming fist towards Tia's face once he got within arm's reach.

"We've had this song and dance before…" Queen Tia spoke softly as she swung her staff at Natsu's arm, diverting his arm to the air. She then swung her staff again, striking Natsu in the side, causing Natsu to tumble across the floor, but he quickly caught himself before flying off too far.

"Natsu!" Happy shouted in worry. "She hasn't moved yet…"

"Ice make: Saucer!" Exclaimed Gray as he sent a razor sharp ice saucer towards Queen Tia.

"You two won't even hit me…" Queen Tia sighed once again before pointing her staff in the direction of the saucer. "Wide Wave." A sea blue magic seal appeared on the tip of Queen Tia's staff, and it unleashed a wide wave of water, covering the width of the room. The wave of water cut through the incoming ice saucer and struck Gray in the chest, causing him to tumble back from the sheet force.

"Gah…!" Gray shouted after he was hit, wincing after he regained his footing. "No way…"

Natsu crouched down, flames covering his entire body. "Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!" Natsu sprang forward, now lunging head first towards Queen Tia at a breathtaking speed, aiming his skull towards her side. Wordlessly, Queen Tia turned once hearing Natsu shouted. She gripped her staff with her left (dominant) hand, and waited until Natsu was in range; once he was, she gave a hard swing of her staff, hitting Natsu in the skull before he could reach her. "GWAAHH!" Natsu shouted out in pain as he flew into the nearest wall.

"Natsu!" Happy shouted once again.

"This isn't good…" Lily crossed his arms while watching. "If only I wasn't confined in this cage…!"

Gray ran forward, his fist in his palm. "Ice Make: Bringer!" He was bringing out the heavy artillery early, he had to. Two large, slightly curved blades of ice appeared in Gray's hands. He jumped into the air, crossing his arms as he swung the blades in an X formation, aiming for Queen Tia's midsection.

"How many times must I tell you…?" Queen Tia groaned at how repetitive she felt she had to be to get it through Natsu and Gray's thick skulls. "You cannot defeat me…" Tia brought her staff up with two hands, blocking Gray's strike, though it was a powerful strike, as the ground under Tia cratered about an inch or so. With her superior strength, she managed to push Gray away near Natsu.

"I'm not done yet!" Natsu shouted, bringing himself back to his feet. He cupped his hands over his head, creating a large sphere of fire over it. "Dazzling Blaze of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu hurled the sphere forward, the speed almost like a shooting towards as it raced towards Queen Tia. To make sure he was going to hit, Natsu then ran after his blaze, his arms at his sides as trails of fire appeared on them; preparation for a Fire Dragon's Wing Slash.

"Neither am I!" Gray replied to Natsu while running alongside the Salamander, refusing to let his rival show him up, no matter what it was. "Ice Make: Cold Excalibur!" A frozen copy of the legendary blade appeared in Gray's hands.

Queen Tia spun her staff around with her fingers before planting it down onto the ground, a large cerulean magic seal appearing before her. "Water Dragon." From the magic circle, a watery dragon head with an elongated body rushed out of the circle, letting out a roar as it rushed through the blaze Natsu created, and struck the two Fairy Tail wizards, shouts of pain escaping them both as they were now in the center of the room, heavily damaged.

"D-Dammit…" Natsu coughed up some water, slowly making his way back to his feet.

"What's wrong?" Queen Tia asked as her voice started to raise, a more sadistic side of her showing. "I thought you were going to pay me back for what happened?!" Tia slammed the tip of her staff on the ground, creating a large magic circle that covered the entire floor. "Tidal Wave!" The magic seal turned into an unforgiving cyclone of water, spinning Natsu and Gray around relentlessly.

"Natsu! Gray!" Happy exclaimed, trying to escape the cage.

"HAHAHA!" Queen Tia let out a boisterous laugh. "It's been so long since I've gotten to let myself go…! I should really do this more often!" She then shifted her gaze to the helpless mages, only to realize something. "Huh…?" A flame appeared within the water, spinning clockwise along with the current. It was only until the flame covered the interior of the cyclone did Queen Tia realize what was happening. "W-What?!"

"Secret Dragon Slayer Art! Crimson Lotus: Exploding Lightning Blade!" Roared Natsu from within the vicious torrent. By adding lighting to his attack, the surge managed to travel all the way back to Queen Tia, the electric shock paralyzing her, and the expanding flames to strike her, causing her to slide back a foot, but she couldn't move after.

"W-What is this…!?" Queen Tia grit her teeth as she tried to move, but she couldn't. Being a water mage, she was already susceptible to lightning, and with her Queen's armor equipped, that weakness doubled, and it was to the point where she couldn't move.

Natsu preformed a front flip, fire and lightning covering his leg. "Talons of the Lightning Flame Dragon!" Natsu swing his leg down at Tia's skull, but she managed to move that out of the way, causing Natsu to hit the ground in front of her. But the lightning flame dragon smirked; this was only the first part of the strike. From the ceiling, a lightning bolt crashed down onto Tia, causing a scream of pain to escape her lips from the unexpected hit. "RAH!" Natsu then gripped Tia's chest plate. "Grip of the Lightning Flame Dragon!" An explosion of lighting and flames followed, sending Tia staggering back from the dual elemental blow, but she didn't fall over.

"Ice Make: Freeze Lancer!" Gray shouted as a blue magic seal appeared before him, unleashing a plethora of enlarged frozen ice lances to strike Queen Tia.

"T-Tch…" Tia used her staff for support, she couldn't move as the lightning hadn't flushed out of her armor or system yet. She could only watch as the incoming ice lances made way towards her, but they stopped, now changing into an ice wall that appeared before her. "What…?"

"My, my…" Diamond said as she walked from the entrance closest to Tia. "To think that our little S class Tia was having a hard time for a second…"

"Diamond…" Tia scoffed, standing up straight. "I was doing fine."

"Sure you were…" Diamond snickered. "I'm sure you don't want to waste any more time with these non-S classes right? I'll take care of them for you in their stead…"

"Hmph…very well…" Tia nodded, and proceeded to walk off.

"H-Hey! Come back here!" Natsu shouted as he attempted to run after Tia.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Diamond waved a finger in a disapproving manner. The ice wall that protected Tia now changed into a plethora of ice arrows, which caused Natsu to stop. "Better!" Diamond then walked back into the corridor, throwing the diamond and ice encased Juvia into the room. "See that?"

"Juvia!" Gray shouted from surprise.

"Diamonds and Ice…?" Carla's eyes narrowed.

"That's my name." Diamond said with a nod before walking in front of Natsu and Gray. "Diamond Ice, Ice mage of Dealer. I'll make you a deal. If you two can defeat me, Juvia will be released…if you can't, then well, you know what happens. I don't know how well she can breathe in there, so you better move quickly~"

.

.

"Gemini Thunder!" Shouted the two Gemini Twins in unison, their arms pointed towards Kairi, unleashing a powerful bolt of electricity towards her.

"Tch…" Kairi quickly rolled out of the way, dodging the unison raid. The wall behind her was what took the impact, sparking for a few seconds before exploding. "Powerful…" She nodded to herself and a magic seal appeared over her head, entering her Angel Soul: Uriel. She then raised her hand, creating a magic seal above the Gemini Spark Twins. This magic seal unleashed spheres of light, similar to a meteor shower down on the two electric twins.

"Oh, oh, oh!" Gemini Spark B shouted while jumping from side to side, Gemini Spark R mirroring his movements, both avoiding most of the meteors coming their way. One meteor struck Spark B, causing him to stagger back into Spark R, leaving them open for a brief moment.

"Now!" Kairi thought to herself as she cupped her hands to her side, creating a sphere of light. "Light Beam!" The angelic mage threw her arms forward, unleashing a beam of light towards the Gemini Spark Twins.

"W-Whoa!" Gemini Spark R jumped forward, his arm pointing forward. "Rocket Fist!" His arm detached, moving forward like a rocket, clashing with the Light Beam; the beam and rocket fist exploded, creating a decently sized cloud of smoke, obscuring view.

"Agh…" Kairi groaned to herself, now noting that the Twins were faster than she thought. She looked up, only for her eyes to widen; Spark B took advantage of the smoke cloud, his arm now a blade of lightning as he was now just a few feet above Kairi.

"Lightning Slash!" Spark B exclaimed as he brought his blade down on Kairi, who just narrowly avoiding said blade.

"Plasma Shot!" Spark R shouted, appearing on Kairi's side just after she dodged. He let loose a powerful burst of plasma towards Kairi, who was unable to dodge the attack. The plasma shot sent her spiraling backwards, but she caught herself in the air with her wings.

"Two on one…this is going to be a lot harder than I thought at this rate…" Kairi thought to herself as she glanced between R and B.

Clover wasn't having too much luck on his end. Taurus Fire was charging towards him, and it didn't seem like he was going to stop. "Wind Make: Air Spears!" Clover threw his arms forward, unleashing a plethora of wind spears towards the charging Taurus Fire. The spears connected, but Taurus Fire had too much momentum to be stopped. "Oh that's not good…" Clover blinked a few times before rolling to the side, allowing the flaming cow to strike, and shatter the wall.

"MOO!" Taurus Fire yelled out, sucking in a deep breath. When he opened his mouth, he turned and unleashed a large flame in Clover's direction.

Clover spread his arms apart, creating an iron dome around him, protecting him from the harsh flames. He smirked a bit to himself, finding this fight a bit interesting, plus it had been awhile since he had to think on his feet. "Now then…" Clover began to think of his next plan of attack, but he didn't get much time as Taurus Fire smashed the dome with a singular fist. That raw power though. "Oh…" Taurus Fire then shoulder tackled Clover, sandwiching the elemental make mage between the flaming cow and the wall. "G-Gah…"

.

.

"Oi!" Flynn shouted over to Adacore as he and the lightning flame mage entered a generator room. "I found something!"

"What'cha got?" Adacore asked as he walked in the room next to Flynn.

"Looks like something that's powering this place…" Flynn said, poking the generator a few times.

"It's a generator." Cygnus said as he walked in the room as well. "There's six of them, actually, judging by that brief blackout, I'd guess four or five…"

"So…if we break this…" Flynn started.

"Heh, exactly…" Cygnus nodded.

"Allow me…" Adacore said with a smirk. He pointed his finger forward, gathering a large amount of fire magic on the tip of his finger. "Fire Bullet." Adacore "clicked" the trigger, sending the large bullet of fire forward. The bullet struck the generator, instantly blowing it to pieces. Four of the Six generators now remained, and the card began to shake before experiencing a ten second blackout.

"Not bad…" Cygnus gave a nod, showing he was impressed with Adacore's power.

"Now what?" Flynn asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"We look for the others." Adacore said with a nod before turning back to Cygnus. "You comin' or goin'?"

"I'll stick with you guys," Cygnus gave a nod. "Hopefully we'll come across one of these Dealer scum."

.

.

Luke and Heather had damaged each other moderately by this point. Luke was trying not to hold back against the poison dragon slayer, but it was easier said than done. Plus, he already knew that Heather was just a bit stronger than him anyway. "Poison Dragon's Scales…" Heather said in a monotonous tone, a magenta colored magic seal appearing before her hand which let loose a barrage of poisonous scales towards Luke.

"H-Heather! Cut it out…!" Luke shouted, rolling off to the side to avoid the poisonous scales. "What do you think you're saying and doing!? Get a grip!"

Heather ignored Luke's words, only focused on eradicating him, as on Heartless' orders. She crossed her arms, sending two fang-like streams of poison towards the copy mage. "Poison Dragon's Fang Thrust!" She was trying to kill him.

Luke realized this, but he would be damned if he let a member end up like this. His eyes narrowed as fire and lightning covered his fists; he charged forward, baseball sliding underneath the two poisonous fangs, he then sprang up, landing a roaring uppercut on Heather's chin. "Iron Fist of the Lightning Flame Dragon!" The impact sent the venomous slayer stumbling back, her head tilted up.

Heather threw her head forward, revealing her puffed out cheeks. By then it was already too late for Luke to dodge. "Poison Dragon's Roar!" Heather exclaimed as she opened her mouth, sending a funnel of poison in Luke's direction.

Though the roar didn't have much force to it, Luke could immediately feel the poison seep into his system. He could up some blood as his body began to go numb. "D-damn…I really gotta stop falling for that…" He clenched his fist, a cold wind surrounding it. "Ice Make…"

Heather went in for the kill now, her nails extended as she aimed her poisonous "claw" at Luke's chest, but she hesitated for a split second, which allowed Luke to beat her to the punch; an ice blade went through Heather's chest, causing her eyes to widen. "….!" Her eyes immediately changed back from red to teal as a result, her blood now on Luke's hands, in a literal sense.

"…I'm sorry…" Luke mumbled as his hair created a shade over his eyes.

"Luke…!" Lucy shouted as she, Cana, and Wendy ran into the scene, only to stop once seeing Luke's blade plunged into Heather. Their eyes widened as they froze in place.

"…Thank you…" Was the last thing Heather managed to say before her body began to glow, eventually disappearing, just like Daigo's… The three Fairy Tail females immediately ran over to the Luke, Wendy placed her hands forward, a sea green light emitting from them as she healed what she could of Luke's wounds, not even bothering to ask if he was alright. The silence didn't last too long; Clover and Taurus Fire tumbled from the wall nearby, both rolling on the floor, moderately injured.

"C-Clover…!?" Luke immediately turned to see the elemental make mage on his back, groaning.

"Taurus…!" Lucy spoke in a loud whisper, immediately running towards her possessed spirit.

"Lucy, no, wait!" Cana shouted, but Lucy was too determined.

"This one's a little tougher than I thought…" Clover said as he sat up, wincing.

Lucy stood in front of Taurus Fire, looking up into the spirit's eyes. "Taurus, look at me! It's me, Lucy!"

"M-Moo…?" Taurus Fire gazed at Lucy, its mental state weakened due to the battle with Clover. He flashed from Taurus Fire to his regular self. "L-Lucy-sama…?"

"Yes, it's me!" Lucy exclaimed, extending her hand out to Taurus. "Come back to me, Taurus!"

Taurus reached out for Lucy's hand, but it was cut short as he was forcibly returned into the fire card by Heartless, who was standing not too far away from the small group. "Sorry, but I can't let you cheat your way into getting your spirits back. It doesn't work that way, Lucy."

"Heartless…" Lucy clenched her fist, now glaring towards the demon. "Give them back to me!"

"YOU!" Luke immediately screamed out, his magic energy exploding around him as one side of his body turned pitch black, and the other side turned completely white (his Pseudo God Slayer Mode). "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Luke, in a blind rage, lunged towards Heartless.

"Luke no!" Lucy yelled, but her words fell on deaf ears, and she knew that.

Heartless flexed her leg, and once Luke was close, she swung it at his face, her heel to be specific. The blow was so powerful Luke flew into the nearest wall, almost through it. He was unconscious after such a blow. "Rage doesn't work for most people…" She then turned her back, and walked off.

"Hey, where the hell do you think you get off!" Cana shouted, preparing to launch three Ice Lances at Heartless, but she stopped, as she was gone now. "Tch…"

.

.

Kairi stood in front of the generator, panting heavily from magic use. It took a lot to dodge both Gemini Spark R and B's attacks, especially when they attacked right after the other. But Kairi had a plan. "Is that all?" She asked in a tone that made it seem as though she wasn't fatigued at all, despite her outward appearance.

"Big bad angel thinks she all that!" Spark B said while laughing. "Let's finish her off quick, eh?"

"Couldn't have said it better myself!" Spark R nodded in agreement, the two twins placing their arms together, aimed at Kairi once again. "Gemini Thunder!" The unison thunderbolt rocketed towards Kairi, who smirked.

Kairi rolled to the side, allowing the thunderbolt to strike and immediately destroy the generator. "Oops…" Kairi's smirk widened while the Gemini Spark twins began to freak out. The card shook violently as it was now running on half power, beginning to get dangerously low.

"Crap, crap, crap crap!" The two twins said in unison before getting an idea. "I got it! Let's bolt!" They nodded, and in a flash of lightning, vanished.

"…That wasn't so bad…" Kairi dusted her hands off and followed the trail of destruction left by Clover and Taurus, leading her to the group of Luke, Clover, Lucy, Cana, and Wendy. "…What happened…?"

.

.

"This must be one of those generator rooms…" Aira said as she, Tak, Melanie, and Lisanna walked into the room.

"So, we get to blow it up, right?!" Takeru asked. "I'm getting tired of this place!"

"I don't think so…" Said Daigo (in a completely new outfit, white instead of black) "I've been given another chance to protect a generator…three are already down, I do not want to be held responsible for a fourth one going down…"

"W-Who is this guy…" Lisanna asked as she and Melanie took a step back.

"He smells kinda funny…not a human scent, either…" Melanie replied.

"I am Daigo…formerly the one of hearts, but now reborn as the two of hearts…" Daigo responded to the female's inquiry.

"You two stay back…" Aira demanded as she and Takeru stepped forward. "This man is very dangerous…"

"R-Right…" Lisanna nodded, stepping back with Melanie to not get in Aira and Takeru's way.

Takeru cracked his neck, a toothy grin forming on his face. "Is he now? Because captive dragon is even more dangerous once let loose…"

.

.

It was night now. Skye once again left White Eclipse to assassinate a random citizen of Fiore, though she wasn't consciously aware of it before, she had an idea of what was happening now. She entered Magnolia, quietly entering a house. She pulled out one of her blades (one that made no sound) and brought her arm up, however, her eyes widened when she realized something; it was a trap. She jumped back out of the window just before a gravity seal could hold her in place. She felt to the rooftops, but she was met by Third Captain Correll. "…"

"Well, well…" Correll said with a smirk, his arms folded over his chest. "It only took a few months, but it looks like we've finally caught you…"

"What a hassle you have been to the safety of Fiore as a whole…" Said Odin as he walked out of the shadows, his arms folded behind his back.

"Now if you'll just come quietly…" Lahar said as he and Doranbolt also appeared from the shadows.

"Otherwise we will use force…" Layanna ended by appearing behind Skye. The assassin was caught, and worst of all, she was surrounded.


	14. Chapter 13: One Remains

"Ho ho ho…" King chuckled, outwardly impressed by the performance of the former captives, though his inner anger was also starting to show as he slammed a fist into the nearby table. "HO HO HO…Two generators left? I suppose I should be calling for evacuation now…the fail safe will be activating once the last one is destroyed…" He then gave a smile, an angry yet devious smile. "Actually…that wouldn't sound so bad…they don't know the consequences of what will happen…and I've sucked enough magic from them for the time being…" Sitting back in his chair, the master of Dealer began to chuckle as though he already one. "It appears my trump cards are full proof…"

.

.

Daigo urged Aira and Takeru to make the first move, and Takeru was the first one to move. "I can let loose, finally…" Takeru grinned as he dashed forward, his magic power exploding as he entered his Shadow Drive, his body now moving erratically like a shadow to throw Daigo off.

"Shadow Dragon slayer, hm?" Daigo raised a brow, remaining calm as the erratic slayer charged towards him. "No matter…with my rebirth, I've gained a new magic…" Daigo whipped his hands forward, sending chain forward, latching onto Takeru's chest. "Chain magic!" Daigo whipped Takeru around before slamming him into a wall.

"Tak!" Aira shouted as Takeru hit the wall. She then decided it was time to get involved herself. She ran forward, raising a hand in preparation for a spell.

"Not so fast!" Daigo exclaimed as he used his free hand to whip another chain, latching onto Aira's raised wrist. He then pulled on the chain, causing Aira to yelp and face plant on the ground.

Takeru struggled to escape the grip of the chain on him; it was tight, probably not coming off. He then got an idea; he formed his shadow katana in his hands and severed the chain, now freeing himself from it. "Perfect." Takeru then charged forward, jumping into the air with his blade aimed towards Daigo.

Daigo now went to tug the chain on Takeru, but he was a little caught off guard when he realized there was nothing to pull; he turned, only to see Takeru running at him. He dropped the severed chain and formed a new one, wrapping it around Takeru's shadow katana, tugging the creation away from him. "Here!" He then swung the chain latched onto Aira, swinging her into Takeru. The two White Eclipse mages collided with a "thud" in midair and hit the ground on their backs, both groaning from the impact.

"Those chains…" Aira groaned before standing back up, shaking the impact off. She pointed her hands forward, creating a green magic seal before her. "Sonic Boom!" The magic seal then unleashed multiple bursts of wind towards the chain mage.

"Not a chance!" Daigo said while spinning a chain around, diverting the bursts of wind off to the walls nearby. Daigo then threw his chains forward once again, latching them onto Aira and Takeru, swinging them around like ragdolls at this point. This caused Takeru's motion sickness to take effect, despite his efforts to fight it.

"They're not doing so hot…" Lisanna watched as Daigo flung the two White Eclipse mages around.

"We need to help them…!" Melanie gave a firm nod.

"I agree!" Lisanna nodded as well before a magic seal appeared over her body, now entering her Animal Soul: Tigress, complete with a two piece, claws, a tail, cat ears, and whiskers. She used her speed to pounce on Daigo, scratching furiously at his face with her "Let them go!"

"Grah!" Daigo flailed in a somewhat comical fashion as Lisanna pounced on him, immediately dropping his chains as he tried to get the youngest Strauss off of him. "Get off of me you disgusting feline!" Using his strength, Daigo managed to push Lisanna away, only to receive a face full of Melanie's water infused fist. He stood firm for a few seconds before wincing. "Ow…"

"Now's our chance!" Aira exclaimed as she ran forward, the wind surrounding her feet. "Hurricane Dance!" Once she got close enough to Daigo, she elegantly twirled around, creating a miniature hurricane around her person which quickly expanded to cover the entire room, spinning Daigo around before hurling him off elsewhere in the area.

Daigo groaned, standing up after shaking off the hit. "Ouch…"

"GET DUNKED!" Takeru exclaimed as he suddenly appeared before Daigo, his right arm raised high (while covered in shadows). He then slammed his fist on Daigo's skull, causing the ground under the two to shatter from the sheer force. Daigo stumbled back, completely dazed from the attack. Takeru took this time to puff his cheeks out, his head leaning back. "Roar…Of the Shadow Dragon!" Takeru threw his head forward, unleashing a funnel of shadows towards the disorientated Daigo. The roar landed directly, causing a shadowy explosion.

"Did it work?" Aira peered into the smoke, using her wind magic to kill any chance of Daigo using it for a surprise attack. When the smoke cleared, Daigo was seen on the ground, defeated.

"W-Well done…" Daigo gave a nod of respect before his body vanished once again.

"Tch, just a stupid warmup…" Takeru grunted before he went over and grabbed his Shadow Katana, hurling it towards the generator. It exploded after about three seconds, and the card's energy began to falter as it was now running on two generators instead of 6.

"Let's go find the others!" Aira nodded.

"We're right behind you!" Lisanna said.

.

.

Joker and Evanee stood across from each other, the area they were in shaking due to the magical pressure of the two just being in the same room. The shaking increase steadily as their magic rose, it seemed as though they were trying to intimidate the other into backing down, but it didn't seem as though either of them would take the bait. "Evanee…" Joker started while keeping a cool, stoic look on his features. "The Ace of Twilight Zone…I've seen your strength in action."

"Is that so…?" Evanee replied in a calm tone, though on the inside she was just waiting for the chance to rip Joker's head off for earlier.

"This is a monster eat monster world…wizard kill wizard – too – if you will…That is how I see Earthland." Joker said while crossing his arms. "You managed to get a dragon, although weak, to yield to you…That in itself is impressive…"

"I didn't know you were going to compliment me," Evanee said while rolling her eyes.

"I'm not. That was when you were a Dragon Slayer, but because you were foolish and let your guard down, you're now less than that…a magic you still don't have complete understanding of." Joker said, though it wasn't a snapping tone, more of a ridiculing one. "In my philosophy, you don't have a place in this world…yet. However, it is not your time to do battle…" Joker then turned around, pointing to his left. "If you're looking for a generator, there is one down that corridor."

"I don't need your giveaways." Evanee snapped at Joker, but he just continued to walk off, ignoring her. "Tch…" Evanee turned, walking down the corridor Joker told her to go down since she didn't have much else to do, and to her surprise, it was not a trap. Joker told the truth, the fifth generator was up and running, much harder than before since it was one of the only two left. She brought her hands up, gathering a decent amount of magic energy before firing towards the generator (Constellational Stream); she wasn't using much power, but since she was an ace the generator really stood no chance and exploded. The card shook violently as another blackout occurred. There was only one generator left.

.

.

Natsu ran forward towards Diamond Ice as fire and lightning covered his fist. When he got close, he swung it, aiming for her nose. "Iron Fist of the Lightning Flame Dragon!" Diamond swayed to the side, just narrowly avoiding the dual elemental fist Natsu threw. Though, some of her hair was singed. To retaliate, diamonds covered her left leg, which she swung at Natsu's side, causing him to stagger back, and out of the way.

"Ice Make!" Gray started as an ice bow appeared in his arms, along with three arrows pulled back at the ready. "Super Freeze Arrow!" Gray released his grip on the string, sending three frozen arrows hurtling towards Diamond at the speed of light (presumably).

"Hehe…" Diamond didn't react like most would at the sight of the three arrows. Instead, a slow smirk crept onto her face as she held her hand out. "That's some nice ice you have there, Fullbuster…" As Diamond spoke, the ice arrows merged together now morphing into a razor sharp ice blade, which slowly entered Diamond's hands. "Not too shabby a feel either…"

"E-EH?!" Gray's eyes widened in surprise from seeing his ice manipulated like that.

"She controlled his ice…?" Carla raised a brow in confusion.

"Ice manipulation, lovelies…" Diamond cooed while giving a few practice swings to her new ice blade, grinning with satisfaction. "Not too bad…" While Diamond was distracted, Natsu came in from her left with a lightning flame roundhouse, but she blocked the hit with her ice blade, sliding to the side a few feet. "Don't you know it's rude to rush an unprepared lady?!"

"I don't give a damn!" Natsu replied as he continued to go on his offensive momentum, swinging another roundhouse to Diamond's sternum, but he missed because Diamond was rather agile. Diamond swung her blade at Natsu's chest, but the Salamander swayed to the side, avoiding the hit. Before Diamond could pull the blade back, Natsu caught the unsharpened edge with his underarm, keeping a firm grip on it.

"H-Hey!" Diamond grunted, trying to pull her blade away from Natsu. "Let go!"

"Heh…" Natsu merely grinned for a moment before fire and lightning coated his forehead, which he smashed into Diamond's, the impact sending Diamond skidding across the ground on her back.

"G-Gah…" Diamond shook her head slowly as she stood up, noticing the trail of blood running from her forehead; this caused her to get angry. "How dare you…!?"

Natsu ignored Diamond; in fact, his cheeks were beginning to puff out, fire and lightning surrounding his mouth. "Roar…!" Natsu threw his head forward, unleashing a massive funnel of fire and lightning towards Diamond. "Of the Lightning Flame Dragon!"

"I've had enough of you!" Diamond shouted as she placed her hands forward, creating a cyan magic seal decorated with as snowflake in the center. "Blizzard!" From the magic seal, a harsh blizzard shot out, clashing with the Lightning Flame Roar. The stalemate only lasted for a few seconds until Natsu's roar was completely frozen over, and shattered into beautiful sparkles.

"She froze his entire roar…!?" Happy's jaw dropped.

"What is this woman…?" Lily asked while gritting his teeth.

"Ice Make!" Gray held his arms apart this time, a large ice cannon manifesting over his shoulder. "Ice Cannon!" Gray clicked the trigger to said cannon, unleashing a powerful blast of ice that hurtled towards Diamond. The recoil of the shot sent Gray sliding back a foot or so.

"Hmph!" Diamond scoffed, bringing her hands up. The ice shot traveling towards her was reduced into nothing but a small cube of ice that traveled harmlessly into Diamond's mouth. She chewed on the ice for a second with a content smile before swallowing it. "Pretty cold…"

"She's just messing with us…" Gray let out a low growl, absolutely disliking the fact he was being toyed with like this.

"Lightning Flame Dragon's Sword Horn!" Natsu roared as lightning and flames covered his body once more, lunging towards Diamond.

"Heheh…" Diamond held her hand out, creating a large hammer which she gripped with both hands. "Break Hammer!" She pulled the hammer back, swinging it just as Natsu got in range. The result was an explosive shockwave, blowing both her, Natsu, and Gray back. "Gwah…!" Diamond grunted before standing up straight. "You two are really annoying me…But, it's not like I don't care for dragging this battle out…it doesn't look like Juvia has that much time left…"

"We WILL beat you…" Natsu said while panting. It didn't help that he was pretty exhausted from the battle with Queen Tia prior to this one.

"Oh yeah?" Diamond smirked slightly as she pointed a hand forward, creating to large ice blocks. These ice blocks merged into a giant ice cleaver that floated above her. "See if you can break this one then…" Diamond threw her hands down, sending the cleaver towards Natsu and Gray.

"Look out!" Carla shouted as her paws gripped the cage bars. Before the cleaver could strike, a chainsaw-like sword cut through it with ease. The ice cleaver shattered into small pieces and a small explosion occurred, the smoke cloud covering the room. "H-Huh…?"

"WHO?!" Diamond shouted, a vein appearing on her forehead.

"Gieheh…" The signature laugh echoed throughout the room.

"Gieheh…" The same laugh…but this one was feminine.

"That laugh…" Lily's eyes and ears immediately perked up.

"You just can't stay out of trouble, can you, Salamander…?" Said Gajeel and he and Selene walked from the smoke cloud.

"You two can sit back and rest. We'll handle this." Said Selene as she gave a glare towards Diamond, her fangs showing.

Lily couldn't help but smirk widely at the sight of the two slayers. "Gajeel…! Selene!"


	15. Chapter 14: Nothing But A Game

"I don't appreciate you treating my sister like that…" Gajeel said as he glanced at the diamond incased Juvia.

"Don't worry, Sensei…" Selene said while walking over to Juvia, her arm changing into a diamond blade. "These diamonds aren't anything compared to mind…" Selene then swung her blade at the prison, cleaving through it with ease, freeing Juvia.

"W-WHAT!?" Diamond flailed, obviously intimidated as Selene easily cut through her diamonds. "What the hell?! Who do you think you are, cutting through my diamonds like that!?"

"Did she say Sensei?" Natsu blinked a few times, the only thing he could really focus on after Selene freed Juvia.

"I think so…" Gray merely shrugged as he lifted Juvia up into his arms. "You two got this, eh…?"

"Giheheh, if you're going to be worried about anything, be worried about that one over there,' Gajeel said in reference to Diamond. A green magic seal appeared under the iron dragon slayer, prompting his infamous iron scales to cover his body.

"Don't you dare look down on me!" Diamond stopped her foot on the ground, feeling annoyed by Gajeel and Selene's confidence.

"Shut the fuck up." Gajeel said in a nonchalant tone as he extended his arm into his Iron Dragon's Club, smashing right into Diamond's face, causing her to stagger back while holding her face in agony. "Anyway, we'll handle this."

"Aye…" Natsu nodded, swinging flaming fist on the cages that kept the Exceeds captives. "Let's go!"

"Finally, free!" Happy let out a sigh of relief before spreading his wings. "Alright, good luck, you two!"

"Now then…" Selene cracked her neck, allowing the rest of her body to cover in the near impenetrable diamond armor. "Shall we…?"

"And you let the captives get away! How dare you!?" Diamond let out a scream of aggravation before pulling herself together. "I knew we were forgetting someone important when we captured the others…no matter…" Diamond shrugged before raising her hands above her head, a snowflake appearing. "Diamond Dust Hail Storm!" Diamond threw her hands forward, creating a relentless blizzard with small diamond shards mixed in.

"Whoa…!" Selene found that she had to hold her ground from the force of the blizzard. The only real thing that was slightly damaging was the diamond shards creating marks along her own diamond shield.

"Guess she means business…" Gajeel said through grit teeth as his iron scales held strong, even throughout the blizzard and diamond shards. Gajeel extended an arm forward, creating a green magic seal before him. "Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs!" From the magic seal, a barrage of quick iron lances fired off towards Diamond.

"No!" Diamond exclaimed as she stopped her blizzard, clapping her hands together. She used the small shards of ice on the ground to create an ice wall in front of her, protecting her from the relentless stream of iron lances, though the ice wall began to crack after the last few lances hit.

Gajeel immediately followed up with another attack, his cheeks inflating as a green magic seal appeared before him. "Iron Dragon's Roar!" Gajeel opened his mouth, unleashing a metallic roar towards Diamond.

"Eep..!" Diamond squeaked, rolling to the side. The roar hit the wall, blowing it to pieces with little trouble. Selene wasn't one to give Diamond any leeway. The diamond dragon slayer swung a roundhouse kick towards Diamond's skull, but she narrowly managed to avoid the attack, springing to her feet. "I'll show you what real diamonds are made of!" Diamond shouted as diamonds covered her fist. She entered intense close combat with Selene; the punches exchanged creating a shockwave once they collided. Diamond landed a hit on Selene's cheek, but due to her diamonds, she didn't feel it, and the diamonds only cracked a tiny bit, but nothing to where it would shatter. Selene landed a hit on Diamond's chest, following up with a head smash (with Selene's head covered in diamonds yeah ouch) causing Diamond to stagger back, wincing as she could feel the blood dripping from her forehead. "Y-You…"

Gajeel appeared by Diamond's side, a green magic seal focused around his fist. "Iron Dragon's Hard Fist!" Gajeel swung his iron scaled coated arm at Diamond's cheek, causing her to spiral back before she barely caught herself.

"Enough of this…!" Diamond shouted, clearly becoming frustrated. She brought out her Break Hammer once again, giving it a few swings to try and intimidate Selene and Gajeel, but a petty trick such as that didn't even faze them; they had seen and gone through much worse.

"Tryin' to intimidate us with that? Giehe, don't make me laugh!" Gajeel scoffed.

"Oh?" Diamond merely smirked, crouching down. She leapt into the air, the hammer raised high above her head. She then brought the hammer down with tremendous force onto Selene and Gajeel, who just barely realized its full potential and rolled out of the way. The Break Hammer caused the ground to crater a good 20 feet, and let loose two earth shaking shockwaves that caused the dragon slayers to lose their footing. While this happened, Diamond moved in once again, now slamming her hammer at Gajeel and Selene, sending them hurtling into the nearest wall, both of their scales cracked from the impact. Diamond gave another swing to the air, smirking towards he two slayers. "I don't call this the Break Hammer for nothing!"

"...I almost felt that one, gihehe..." Though Gajeel did feel pain, he played it off as though he didn't, holding back any wincing to show he was in pain.

"Same here..." Selene gave a smirk, rolling her neck after prying herself from the wall.

"T-Tch...what are you two?!" Diamond began to panic inwardly, but she shook it off, now getting an idea on how to defeat the two before her. "Ah! I got it! You two won't be able to escape this!" Diamond placed her hands on the ground, creating a cyan magic seal under Gajeel an Selene's feet. "Diamond Prison!" From the magic seal, diamonds quickly crawled up Selene and Gajeel's feet, trapping all but their heads in diamonds. Diamond stood back up, dusting her hands off with a smirk. "Try to escape that one!"

Selene merely gave out a sigh, her hair turquoise hair covering her face. "You really take your opponents lightly, don't you...? Do you know who I am...?"

"I don't need to know," Diamond replied as she raised a brow, curious as to why Selene took that sort of tone with her.

Gajeel merely grinned, knowing that Selene was about to put on a show. "Giheh..."

"What's so funny, scrap metal?!" Diamond snapped at Gajeel.

Selene opened her mouth, and bit down on the diamond surrounding her shoulders, chewing on them with her sharp teeth. Diamond's eyes widened in pure shock as Selene made a feast out of what was meant to be a prison. When Selene finished with all the diamonds (minus the ones around her legs, which she just stepped forward to remove), a gray magic seal appeared under her feet, and the room began to shake vigorously. "I'm Fiore's Diamond Dragon Slayer."

Gajeel merely unleashed an Iron Dragon's roar on his prison, shattering Diamond's frail diamonds with little difficultly. "You picked the wrong guilds to mess with."

"N-no...no way...t-this can't be happening..." Diamond's eyes were now filled with fear as she took a step back, almost tripping over nothing as she back away from the two dragons standing before her.

Selene crouched down before breaking off into a sprint, the cracks on her diamond shield now no existent. She jumped forward, now lunging head first towards Diamond. "Diamond Dragon's Armored Horn!" As soon as she called this attack out, she rammed her diamond covered body into Diamond's chest (which caused Diamond to cough up an obscenely large amount of blood) and slammed the Dealer mage into the nearest wall, creating a smoke cloud. When the smoke cleared, Diamond Ice laid on the ground, defeated.

"One lackey down." Selene said as she let her diamond shield fade. "Now, it's time to go look for the others."

"Not bad, Selene," Gajeel said with a nod of approval and a slight smirk. "Looks like that trainin' really is paying off."

.

.

Reve tapped his foot as he stood in the middle of a large, open room, many pathways leading in and out of it. He was joined by Rylo, Ceaser, Mirajane, and Elfman, neither of whom he wanted to be with . "Judging by the constant blackouts, I'd say this place is on its last legs." Rylo stated as he looked around.

"I hope the others are doing alright..." Said Mirajane as she used a hand to pull her hair behind her ear. "I don't want to see Lisanna hurt..."

"As a Man, I would punish the one who did that!" Elfman shouted.

"Blah, blah, blah..." Reve let out a disgusted groan. "I know you're all just following me so you can have someone to rely on when one of those S class mages come but cut the chatter because it's pretty annoying."

Ceaser blinked a few times, completely lost. "When did we start following you?"

"And when did we start "relying" on you?" Mirajane asked while raising a brow. "I recall there being an agreement to travel as a group."

"And by agreeing we also agreed that I would be in charge of the group; I run this shit, if you haven't noticed." Reve reply with his usual egotistic attitude, a smirk forming on his face as he turned to the other mages. "So, shut your mouths and let's keep moving."

"This isn't Manly," Elfman stated.

"Oh yeah?" Reve leaned his face it towards Elfman's now forehead to forehead with Fairy Tail's beast. "You wanna do something about, Mr. Man? Because if so, just remember the White Eclipse vs. Fairy Tail event last year; you could barely touch Cygnus, so what makes you think you can beat me? You can't, so stop talking shit before I knock you down." Reve then took a step back, turning his back to the others.

"You better watch your tone, Volver..." Mirajane cut her eyes towards Reve after he finished speaking to Elfman.

"Can't we all just get along?" Rylo asked in a hopeful tone.

"Not at this rate, shorty..." Caeser replied.

"Calm down, cowboy..." Taya said while walking into the room with Erza.

"Taya, good to see you again." Reve gave a slight grin towards Taya before smirking towards Erza. "And the lesser requip mage, always a pleasure."

Taya immediately thwacked Reve upside the head for his comment. "Down. Now isn't the time to get under people's skin."

"Let him think whatever he wants," Erza said to Taya before walking to Mirajane and Elfman. "Are you two alright?"

"Just fine." Mirajane replied with a nod.

"Looks like there's a party over here...!" Flynn shouted as he ran in with Cygnus and Adacore.

"Shorties!" Caeser exclaimed to his fellow Twilight Zone mages.

"Good to see ya guys again!" Adacore grinned.

"Everyone...!" Lucy shouted as she, Cana, Wendy, Kairi, and Clover (who was carrying the unconscious Luke on his back) walked into the room.

"Lucy!" Erza let out a sigh from seeing one of her closest comrades safe and sound.

"Ugh...people..." Evanee groaned as she reluctantly stepped forward.

"Evanee, you're alright, as expected." Rylo gave a nod, tipping his top hat towards the ace.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Evanee replied.

"MIRA-NEE! ELF-NII!" Lisanna squealed, tackle hugging her older siblings to the ground with delight.

"Lisanna!" Mirajane and Elfman yelped in surprise, but they were quite happy to say the least.

"Safe and sound!" Lisanna said while nuzzling her two siblings with glee, giving a slight purr because she was still in her Tigress takeover.

"Evanee-Senpai! Rylo-San!" Melanie ran up to the two S class mages, jumping up and down in joy. "I helped in a fight! I did good!"

"Really now?" Evanee raised a brow before giving a slight smile to the water dragon slayer, patting her on the head. "Well then, nice job, Melanie."

"Is everyone here alright?" Aira asked while looking around at everyone.

"They look fine to me," Takeru replied to Aira's asking.

"I can see everyone's alright..." Laxus stated as he walked in with Taranis.

"Oi!" Natsu exclaimed as he walked in with Gray (who had Juvia awake and latched on his back), Gajeel, Selene, Happy, Pantherlily, and Carla.

"Carla!" Wendy grinned and quickly ran over to her exceed, hugging the female cat tightly.

"Wendy! You're safe!" Carla let out a huge sigh of relief.

"SELENEEEEEE!" Aira lunged at Selene, tackle hugging the diamond slayer to the ground.

"_O H-Hey Aira...!" Selene let out a slight laugh.

"Oi, is this everyone...?" Gray asked while looking around.

"Juvia thinks so!" Juvia gave a stern nod.

"...Where's Heather?" Reve asked, glancing around. "I don't see her anywhere..."

"...About that..." Kairi gulped before opening her mouth, but she was cut off by the lacrima screen that appeared before them; King was on the screen, and he looked happy; too happy.

"Ho ho ho..." King started to laugh.

"I don't like the way he's laughing..." Alexander's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"So, you've defeated Spade Magnes, Club Strong, and Diamond Ice, hm...?" King asked while tilting his head.

"It wasn't any trouble," Erza said in a low tone.

"I see...and you have also destroyed five of the six generators that are keeping this wondering floating card powered..." King continued.

"You might as well just give up!" Natsu shouted with confidence. "We've won!"

"Not so fast, Salamander..." King replied while playing with his deck of cards. "You think you're all so clever, but you're not. I'm watching you all from the top of this card. You want to know why? Because from up here you look like the pile of ants you all are."

"It's easy to say those things when you're looking down on us, but can you say those things in front of us?" Mirajane asked.

"I don't need to waste time with worms such as yourself," King replied with a high and mighty tone, a tone that surpassed even Reve's. "As the King, my time goes to t castle, and those who inhabit it. You are nothing but worthless prisoners at this point..."

"Enough talk!" Natsu bellowed, his flames covering his fists. "Come down here and fight us, you coward! Or if you're scared send one of your S class mages down here so I can whoop them!"

"So belligerent..." King sighed while shaking his head, his focus mainly on his cards. "Tell me, did you ever find that sixth generator?"

"We didn't..." Lucy replied, now having a bad feeling in her stomach.

"Ho ho ho...Ah...now would be a good time to tell you. When all six generators are destroyed, this place is set to self destruct." King's smirk from before turned into a large grin.

"Self destruct?!" Cygnus' reaction seemed over the top.

King continued. "And funnily enough, you've all huddled into the location that self destructs first...ho ho ho..."

"What!?" Aira sprang up. "We have to get out of here!"

Ten purple flames appeared around the edges of the room, near the exits. These flames then connected to one another before creating a purple wall of ghostly fire. "Too late!" Jack laughed. "Like moths to a flame..."

"Oh yeah?!" Natsu inhaled...nothing but air. He couldn't inhale Jack's flames, which threw him off guard. "What...?"

"And finally, do you know where that final generator is located?" King stood up, tilting the lacrima to the final generator that was by his side. "Game over." King then teleported out of the room as the generator exploded, everything else soon to follow.

"Have fun!" Jack shouted as he walked off.

.

.

Cynthia ran into the large field where the giant card was floating over. "Man...so many scents are in there..." She continued to run forward, thinking of a plan that might get her up there since she couldn't fly. "How am I going to-" she stopped mid sentence as the card exploded, causing her eyes to widen. Debris started to fall from the sky, and Cynthia looked up at what used to be a card, only to notice a few things flying from it. "Huh...? What is that...and why is it coming right towards..-" and in that next second, Carla and Wendy crashed into Cynthia, leaving them all dazed as they landed on the ground. "Ugh..."

"Ouch..." Wendy sat up, rubbing her head. "CYNTHIA!" Wendy threw her arms around Cynthia, hugging her best friend tightly.

"A-ah! Wendy! Carla!" Cynthia returned the hug. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Where were you?!" Wendy asked as she patted Cynthia down, more concerned for the ravenette than herself.

"I was...out..." Cynthia replied. "Where are the others?!"

"I don't know..."' Wendy gave a frown. "I just remember Reve-San, Gajeel-San, and Selene-San managing to pull us all out with a last second escape before that explosion got us..."

"We have to find them!" Cynthia nodded, pulling Wendy up. "Can you two walk?"

"We're fine," Carla said while rubbing her head.

"Alright, then let's go!" Cynthia shouted.

.

.

Happy carried Natsu, who was carrying Lucy, while making a rapid descend to the ground. Happy struggling to keep his balance. "Lucy! You're too heavy! You really need to lose some weight!"

"I'm not that heavy you stupid cat!" Lucy shouted while flailing her arms around.

"H-hey!" Natsu grunted while struggling to keep his grip on Lucy. "Stop moving! I can barely hold on!" Despite the efforts, the trio crash landed. Natsu's upper body was submerged in the ground, his legs kicking wildly as he tried to free himself.

"Ouch..." Lucy rubbed her head for a few seconds before realizing Natsu was stuck. "O-Oi! Happy, help me out!" Lucy ran over to Natsu, gripping one of his legs. With Happy's assistance, the two managed to pull Natsu from the ground.

"G-Gah..." Natsu shook his head, getting the dirt out of his hair. "Thanks."

"I wonder where the others are..." Happy said as he looked around.

"It's a shame you won't get the chance to find out..." Said Jack as he and Tia (who was still in her Queen's armor) appeared just a few feet away from the trio.

"A-ah!" Lucy jumped up, gripping her keys.

"There you are!" Natsu said while dusting himself off, his flames covering his body once more, a lightning aura appearing shortly after. "I wasn't done with you back there, Freia!"

Queen Tia pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed in aggravation. "It's Tia...Then again, it doesn't matter...You've been a thorn to King, so it's time to destroy you..."

"You want another beat down?! Fine with me!" Natsu grinned.

"Let me take 'em, Sis." Jack said as he stepped forward, rolling his neck. "I haven't gotten the chance to cut loose like everyone else."

"Ha...stupid fake explosion had them shaking in their boots..." From afar, a heavily injured Diamond watched the oncoming fight. "Salamander and his pals vs. Jack...? There's no way they can win, especially with those injuries...Jack hasn't fought yet..."

"Kanso..." Jack smirked as a heavenly glow appeared around his body. Black and orange armor appeared around his body, giving his hands a talon-like shape, while an orange visor appeared on his face, and a crown of purple fire appeared on his head. Complete with a blue jewel on his chest, and a pair of wings that allowed him flight. "Do you think you have what it takes to beat me: Jack Corvus?!"

Natsu formed a blazing sphere in one hand and a sphere of lighting in the other, merging the two together. "No one gets away with attacking Fairy Tail like this, so I hope you're ready for payback!" Natsu then hurled the Dazzling Blaze of the Lightning Flame Dragon towards Jack Corvus.

"Don't you get it?!" Jack asked as he flapped his wings, speeding off to the side, avoiding the blaze completely. He then flew towards Natsu with his wings spread out. "This was all just a game! You haven't won anything yet!" Jack flew by Natsu, slashing the Salamander's shoulder with his wings. Before Jack could go much further, Lucy wrapped her whip around Jack's leg, halting his progress. "Huh?"

"I-I got him!" Lucy said while digging her heels into the ground, trying to keep Jack in place long enough for Natsu to attack. "Natsu!"

Natsu grunted as Jack flew by him, but he shook it off and ran forward, jumping towards Jack. "Talons of the Lightning Flame Dragon!" Natsu swung his leg towards Jack Corvus' head, but Jack blocked by bringing up his forearm, and Natsu jumped back.

"Annoying..." Jack flew up into the air, taking Lucy with him, causing her to scream of surprise. Jack then turned rearing one of his talons back. When Lucy was close (unwillingly) he swung his talons at her chest, but she released the whip just in time to change her momentum, avoiding the slash at the last second.

"Wah!" Lucy was now free falling towards the ground, but Happy flew in and caught her at the last second. "H-happy...!"

"Perfect position..." Jack grinned as he spread his arms forward, creating a plethora of purple flaming hands in the sky. "Wicked Flame!" The flaming hands then raced down towards the ground.

"I can eat those...!" Natsu grunted as he ran from side to side, avoiding what he could of the Wicked Flame.

"Hm...For being Rusty, Jack isn't doing too bad..." Queen Tia nodded to herself, giving Jack approval.

"Watch out!" Lucy shouted as Happy did his best to evade the Wicked Flame.

Natsu found an opening, he crouched down and jumped up, traveling headfirst towards Jack like a rocket. "Lighting Flame Dragon's Sword Horn!"

"You just don't know when to stay down!" Jack groaned as he drew his left arm back, changing it into a scythe coated in his purple fire. Once Natsu was close, he swung the sickle, only for it to result in a stalemate, which ended in an explosion that blew both parties back. Natsu landed beside Happy and Lucy while Jack descended down next to Tia.

"He's strong..." Lucy commented.

"Come on!" Jack said, beckoning Natsu for more. "Is that all you've got, Salamander!"

"Natsu! Lucy!" Lisanna called out as she and Mirajane ran towards the group. "What's going on?"

"Jack, Tia..." Mirajane's eyes changed to a glare as she eyes the so S class mages.

"Killjoys..." Jack sighed.

Just then, Joker appeared from thin air, standing to the side of the group, but his very appearance caught everyone's attention rather quickly. "Jack. Tia. There has been a change in plans, you know this. We aren't getting ridding of Salamander...just yet."

"Ah!" Jack groaned. "Are you serious!? I was just about to finish him!"

"Like hell!" Natsu argued before turning to Joker. "AND YOU!"

"T-the power he's giving off..." Lucy took a few steps back; Joker's power was intimidating, just like Hades' from eight years ago.

"Don't be afraid! We can take him." Natsu said to Lucy in reassuring tone.

"If I remember correctly..." Joker said while flashing back to his conversation with Natsu while he was locked up, his eyes locking into Lucy. "Your power rises when your nakama is in danger..."

"Joker don't you do it!" Natsu warned, but it was too late; Joker appeared in front of Lucy, his arms pulled back.

Lucy froze as the powerful entity known as Joker suddenly appeared in front of her; it was as though time slowed down for everyone as their eyes widened. "Ahhhhhh!"

"Dread Lazer!" Joker exclaimed as he threw his arms forward, unleashing a powerful red Lazer point blank at Lucy.

"LUCY!" Natsu shouted as he tackled Lucy to the ground, just narrowly getting her out of the way of the powerful attack. The Lazer cut through the earth itself, leaving a crevice about 40 feet deep.

"L-Lucy..!" Lisanna let out a relived sigh.

"That was too close..." Mirajane said while catching her breath; she was sure her heart stopped for a bit.

"You've gone too far this time, Joker!" Natsu roared as he stood up, now facing Joker. "If you want a fight so badly, now you've got one! You're fighting me now!"

Joker merely shook his head. "It's not your time to fight yet..."

"RAHHH!" Natsu lunged towards Joker, throwing a lighting flame infused fist towards Joker, but before he could land the hit, Joker vanished, causing Natsu to look around. "Where'd he go?!"

"He might be going after Lucy again...!" Mirajane's eyes widened at the thought, and she ran towards Lucy for support.

"MIRAJANE NO, BEHIND YOU! NATSU TURN AROUND!" Happy screamed.

Joker appeared in front of Lisanna, his arms drawn back as he prepared yet another Dread Lazer.

"LISANNAAAA...!" Natsu and Mirajane lunged for the youngest Strauss sister, but it was too late; Joker already fired off the Dread Lazer. The large lazer covered covered a large area, and when it finished, Lisanna was gone. Natsu and Mirajane fell to their knees with widened eyes.

"N-no mercy..." Diamond's jaw dropped from the sight she witnessed.

"J-Joker..." Tia stammered, trying to find words after that scene. "Explain to me why you just did that...? She wasn't a threat..."

"You know my philosophy." Joker explained with a nonchalant attitude, as if the entire ordeal didn't just happen. "This is a monster eat monster world. She was a stain upon Earthland, so I took it upon myself to remove her." Joker turned to face Jack and Tia. "Now, as are going back to the base."

"M-Man..." Jack too was surprised and more affected than Tia was by it.

The ground suddenly began to shake violently, almost as though an earthquake was occurring. Natsu stood on his feet, a tower of lightning and flames soaring high into the skies as the Salamander gave out an enraged roar. "JOKER!" Joker suddenly turned around, a brow raised at Natsu's sudden raise in anger and power. "I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY!"

Mirajane let out a scream as a magic circle appeared over her body; her scream turned into a demonic screech as she entered her most powerful takeover, Sitri. The area around Mirajane exploded, cratering a good 30 feet radius as she transformed. Joker had unleashed the anger of the Salamander, and the rage of a demon; there was no such thing as mercy now.


	16. Chapter 15: Natsu and Mirajane vs Joker

"If I remember correctly..." Joker said while flashing back to his conversation with Natsu while he was locked up, his eyes locking into Lucy. "Your power rises when your nakama is in danger..."

"Joker don't you do it!" Natsu warned, but it was too late; Joker appeared in front of Lucy, his arms pulled back.

Lucy froze as the powerful entity known as Joker suddenly appeared in front of her; it was as though time slowed down for everyone as their eyes widened. "Ahhhhhh!"

"Dread Lazer!" Joker exclaimed as he threw his arms forward, unleashing a powerful red Lazer point blank at Lucy.

"LUCY!" Natsu shouted as he tackled Lucy to the ground, just narrowly getting her out of the way of the powerful attack. The Lazer cut through the earth itself, leaving a crevice about 40 feet deep.

"L-Lucy..!" Lisanna let out a relived sigh.

"That was too close..." Mirajane said while catching her breath; she was sure her heart stopped for a bit.

"You've gone too far this time, Joker!" Natsu roared as he stood up, now facing Joker. "If you want a fight so badly, now you've got one! You're fighting me now!"

Joker merely shook his head. "It's not your time to fight yet..."

"RAHHH!" Natsu lunged towards Joker, throwing a lighting flame infused fist towards Joker, but before he could land the hit, Joker vanished, causing Natsu to look around. "Where'd he go?!"

"He might be going after Lucy again...!" Mirajane's eyes widened at the thought, and she ran towards Lucy for support.

"MIRAJANE NO, BEHIND YOU! NATSU TURN AROUND!" Happy screamed.

Joker appeared in front of Lisanna, his arms drawn back as he prepared yet another Dread Lazer.

"LISANNAAAA...!" Natsu and Mirajane lunged for the youngest Strauss sister, but it was too late; Joker already fired off the Dread Lazer. The large lazer covered covered a large area, and when it finished, Lisanna was gone. Natsu and Mirajane fell to their knees with widened eyes.

"N-no mercy..." Diamond's jaw dropped from the sight she witnessed.

"J-Joker..." Tia stammered, trying to find words after that scene. "Explain to me why you just did that...? She wasn't a threat..."

"You know my philosophy." Joker explained with a nonchalant attitude, as if the entire ordeal didn't just happen. "This is a monster eat monster world. She was a stain upon Earthland, so I took it upon myself to remove her." Joker turned to face Jack and Tia. "Now, as are going back to the base."

"M-Man..." Jack too was surprised and more affected than Tia was by it.

The ground suddenly began to shake violently, almost as though an earthquake was occurring. Natsu stood on his feet, a tower of lightning and flames soaring high into the skies as the Salamander gave out an enraged roar. "JOKER!" Joker suddenly turned around, a brow raised at Natsu's sudden raise in anger and power. "I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY!"

Mirajane let out a scream as a magic circle appeared over her body; her scream turned into a demonic screech as she entered her most powerful takeover, Sitri. The area around Mirajane exploded, cratering a good 30 feet radius as she transformed. Joker had unleashed the anger of the Salamander, and the rage of a demon; there was no such thing as mercy now.

.

.

"T-that power...!" Diamond was awestruck by the show of power Natsu and Mirajane were giving off from Joker's attack on Lisanna. "I don't know how strong they are now after that, but attacking Joker isn't a good idea..."

"N-no way..." Jack's jaw dropped.

"Their power has sky rocketed..." Tia mumbled, tripping over her own words as she watched the enraged Salamander and demon, Sitri.

"JOKER! I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S 100x WORSE THAN DEATH BUT YOU'RE GONNA FEEL IT!" Natsu threw his head back, gathering a massive vortex of fire and lighting around his mouth. "ROAR!" Natsu then threw his head forward, unleashing a massive funnel of fire and lightning (fueled by anger) towards Joker (Jack and Tia were in the range as well considering how large this roar was). "OF THE LIGHTNING FLAME DRAGON!"

"WHOA WHOA!" Jack exclaimed as he and Tia took a large leap to the side, just avoiding the roar as it raced towards Joker.

"Hmph..." Joker placed his hand forward and opened his palm, stopping the roar just before it hit him, almost as if he caught it. What he didn't predict was the power behind it, so he slid back an inch before holding his ground. "Pathetic...this is not the power I was expecting..." Natsu's roar eventually died down, and Joker shook his palm as steam emitted from it. In the next instant, Mirajane appeared in front of him, her leg cocked back as flames surrounded it. "Where did she?!" Joker thought to himself, but his thought process was immediately cut off as Mirajane's flame covered heel slammed into Joker's jaw, sending the mighty ace spiraling back from the power. Mirajane wasn't done; the demon was released, and she was going to show Joker the true meaning of "no mercy". With her blinding speed, she pursued Joker, raising her demonic class above her head, aiming them down to impale Joker's chest, but he teleported just before she made contact.

"JOKER!" Mirajane screamed in her demonic voice, immediately shifting on her heel after Joker vanished from sight. "YOU ARE GOING TO SEE WHAT HAPPEN WHEN YOU HURT MY FAMILY."

"I bet the death wasn't all that painful, really..." Diamond mumbled to herself while keeping her eyes on the fight.

"I-I've never seen them like this before…" Lucy spoke with her jaw hanging in surprise. Was she really witnessing the "true" Mirajane?

Joker appeared just a few feet away from Mirajane, a slightly interested expression on his face. "So, is this the true power of the infamous Fairy Tail demon…? Interesting…I wish to see more of this power in action." Before Joker could do much else, Natsu moved in with a furious lightning flame roundhouse, but Joker blocked it with ease with his forearm, using his free hand to knock Natsu away into the ground, creating a crater. "Ignoring him…" Joker beckoned for Mirajane to come at him. And come at Joker Mirajane did, without delay. Using her immense speed, she covered the few feet between her and Joker within milliseconds, her arm ignited with the flames her Sitri was known for using. She threw her fist at Joker's jaw, but Joker caught it at the last second, sliding back a considerable amount of feet from the sheer force Mirajane put behind the attack. Mirajane used her free hand for another reason; she opened her hand, revealing her sharp claws. As quickly as she could, she thrust her free hand towards Joker's stomach, aiming for the satisfaction of impalement. Joker did not allow her this satisfaction, however. He vanished once again, just before Mirajane could strike him. That was the second time he had done so. Was she really this close to damaging the mighty Joker, or was he toying with her? Joker appeared on Mirajane's right, his arms crossed as his expression slowly dulled. "Is this all…?"

Salt in the wound. Not only did Joker remove her beloved younger sibling from the face of Earthland, but he was now mocking her inability to land an attack. That would change now. Mirajane raised her hand above her head, creating a sphere of Darkness Magic that quickly began to increase in size as it charged. Mirajane aimed her hand at Joker, unleashing a large blast that turned into a giant pillar of Darkness Magic, covering a wide radius. "Satanic Blast!"

"Oh? Now things are getting interesting…" A slight grin formed on Joker's lips at the incoming Satanic Blast. He actually shifted into a somewhat defensive stance.

"H-He's gonna take it head on…" Queen Tia mumbled.

Natsu lifted himself from the ground; everything was a bit hazy, but he could clearly make Joker out. Though enraged, he saw his chance as Joker was focused with Mirajane's incoming blast. Natsu formed a large sphere of fire and lightning above his head, much stronger than his usual Dazzling Blaze. "Lightning Flame Dragon's Brilliant Blaze!" Natsu exclaimed as he threw the enlarged blaze towards Joker's back.

"Tch…" Joker merely grunted as he heard Natsu call out his attack. "He's a nuisance…" Joker then sighed as he crossed his arms. It seemed as though he was going to defend against the two attacks coming towards him. Just when the Satanic Blast and the Brilliant Blaze were about to hit him, Joker quickly threw his arms to his sides, letting out a battle cry. A force pushed the Satanic Blast and Brilliant Blaze away, causing them to disperse, leaving Joker unharmed. The spectators watched in complete awe and shock as Joker didn't even break a sweat from repelling those two powerful attacks.

"N-No way…" Happy could hardly believe what he was witnessing. Joker was a monster. "W-What is this guy…?"

"GWAHH!" Natsu roared out in anger, crouching down once again, now lunging towards Joker head first at an almost alarming rate. "Lightning Flame Dragon's Sword Horn!"

"Enough of you for now, Dragneel…" Joker said in a bland tone. The Dealer ace raised his fist before slamming it into the ground, creating some kind of gigaton pillar in Natsu's path. Of course, the brash Salamander intended to break right through it, but to his surprise, he did not. He struck the pillar, and just laid there after impact.

"N-Natsu…!" Lucy cried out, but it seemed as though he was unconscious.

Joker turned to look at Mirajane, who was already coming towards him. He would've given a surprised look, but he was ready for what Mirajane was about to throw at him. Mirajane's hands were coated in electricity, easy enough to dodge for Joker. "Pathetic…" Joker prepared himself to clash and overpower Mirajane head on, but she did something he wasn't expecting. A magic circle appeared behind Joker, pushing him forward towards Mirajane (Evil Push). He stumbled forward a step or two, and that was all the opening Mirajane needed to swing her electricity covered fist at Joker's jaw, landing a devastating haymaker; after the blow, Joker staggered back, rubbing his jaw…but now he was grinning. He was excited. He was going to try now. "This…This is the power I've been waiting to see!" Joker decided to egg Mirajane on further, he wanted to see what she was truly capable off. "All it took was the death of the worthless parasite…"

Mirajane froze as her eyes widened, pupils shrunk. Joker had already gone too far before, but he somehow found another dangerous button of Mirajane's to press. "…That is it…." Mirajane held her hands together, creating a dark colored sphere. She then fired the aforementioned sphere from her palm, the sphere now hurtling towards Joker.

"Oh..?" Joker raised a brow at this attack. Something about it seemed different from the last one. He smirked, covering up; he wanted to feel Mirajane's power for himself instead of dancing around it. The Evil Explosion connected, creating a devastating explosion that expanded in radius quickly, blowing Lucy, Happy, Jack, Tia, and even Diamond who was far away a few yards away. A large smoke cloud covered the area where Joker was.

"D-Did she hit him…" Lucy asked as she sat up, rubbing her head. The smoke slowly cleared, and Joker was seen still standing tall, though his outfit was ripped in several places, and he had a few bruises along his arms and other spots on his body. Other than that, he seemed unharmed. "N-No…"

"H-He came out of an attack like that with only a few bruises…" Tia couldn't help but be awestruck by Joker's overwhelming power. This was the first time in a long time she witnessed Joker fight, and she now remembered why Joker was feared among the monsters and other members of Dealer. Even in her state of rage, Mirajane could clearly see Joker's strength. Though she did not let it faze her, she had a sister avenge. Using her flames, she sped towards Joker once again, aiming her claws towards his face.

"Alright…" Joker said while letting out a deep breath. "I'm done scouting…Let's see…" As Mirajane came towards him, he merely stopped her movements by grabbing her wrist; she tried to pull away, but Joker's strength was far superior to hers. "How you handle one of my attacks." Joker's the pulled back, spinning on his heel; in that very next second, Joker unleashed a flurry of high speed kicks at Mirajane, who was unable to dodge Joker's superior speed; each kick caused a grunt to escape Mirajane's lips, and she didn't have any opening to retaliate. "Milli Kick!"

"M-Mirajane…" Lucy picked herself, now running towards Mirajane and Joker, but she was halted by Queen Tia, who pointed her scepter at Lucy and Happy. "T-Tia…"

"You will not interfere with this fight…" Queen Tia said in a demanding tone.

Natsu finally recovered from slamming headfirst into the Gigaton pillar. He looked up, seeing Mirajane at Joker's mercy, or lack thereof, to be exact. Natsu let out a battle cry to catch everyone's attention. "I WILL DEFEAT YOU!" Natsu screamed as he ran forward, fire and lightning flaring around his fist. "I WILL DEFEAT YOU FOR LISANNA'S SAKE!"

With one final kick, Joker sent Mirajane flying away, now turning his attention to Natsu. He was annoyed at this point with the persistent Salamander. "If King's orders weren't absolute…" Joker grumbled underneath his breath before drawing his arm back. He threw his fist forward, expecting Natsu to clash, but Natsu dodged instead, causing Joker to grunt in frustration once he realized what was happening. Natsu actually landed a hit on Joker by throwing his dual coated fist into Joker's jaw, causing him to slide back. "I've had enough…!" Joker swung his leg at Natsu's side, landing the direct hit. Natsu tumbled across the ground for a few seconds before coming to a stop. When he stopped, he took even more time to stand up, weakly at this point. Joker then pivoted on his foot, his now open palm meeting with Mirajane's face. "Dread Lazer." Before Mirajane could throw her attack, Joker's signature move was unleashed at point blank range, sending her flying across the air before hitting her back, her takeover fading somewhat as she began to run low on magic. She brought herself up slowly, wincing, in terrible pain, but she would not falter, not while Lisanna couldn't rest in peace at the very least. Not until Mirajane heard Joker's screams of pain. She stood up, breathing heavily.

"N-Natsu! Mirajane…!" Lucy called out to them, but she couldn't move because she knew Queen Tia would take her down before she even had the chance to do so.

Natsu and Mirajane charged once more, this time they were side by side, their will to avenge Lisanna driving them forward. "I have to admit…" Joker began as he seemed to be off guard. Before Natsu and Mirajane could launch what they were about to, Joker drove his fist into their guts, his power so great that Natsu exited Lightning Flame mode, and Mirajane returned to her normal form, both of their eyes widened from the attack. "I'm very disappointed…" Joker then opened his palm, a red magic seal appearing. "Dread Lazer." From the magic circle, Joker unleashed a double Dread Lazer on Natsu and Mirajane, the force sending the two sliding across the ground on their backs. They were knocked out after Joker's punch, but the Dread Lazer left them both in critical condition. They lost.

"N-NATSU! MIRAJANE!" Lucy and Happy both shouted simultaneously. They both ran over to the downed mages, kneeling beside them with tears in their eyes.

"Man…Joker's crazy strong…" Jack commented to himself while crossing his arms.

"No kidding…" Diamond said as she finally decided to reveal herself. "He was holding back on me that one time…"

"Oi! Over here!" Cynthia shouted as she, Wendy, and Carla ran into the field, their eyes widened at the sight. "W-What happened?!"

"N-Natsu-san…! Mirajane-san!" Wendy immediately ran over to the two, her hands placed over them both as a sea green light emitted from her palms.

"Now it's about to get infested with these weaklings…" Jack groaned.

"We're going back to the base." Joker replied while dusting himself off.

"Hey!" Cynthia shouted as her dark red flames erupted around her body. "Where the hell do you think you're going!?" She swore; she was pissed. She wasn't allowed to repeat the words the other members said, but she didn't care at this point.

"Another nuisance..." Queen Tia sighed before pointing her scepter forward. "Jack."

"Oh, this? Awesome." Jack pointed a hand forward, sending a Wicked Flame in Cynthia's direction. Following this, Tia shot out a blast of water to douse Jack's flame. The result? A purple cloud of steam that gave off a terrible odor, throwing off any scent Wendy and Cynthia might've had on them.

"G-Gah!" Cynthia pinched her nose to stop the smell from getting to her.

"W-What is this stuff!?" Wendy asked.

"Now then..." Joker sighed.

The steam eventually cleared off, but Joker, Tia, Jack, and Diamond were nowhere to be seen after. "Grr..." Cynthia let out a low growl before turning to Lucy and Happy. "What happened...?"


	17. Chapter 16: Fall of an Assassin

[Time frame: Two days after the events of Dealer]

The atmosphere in Fairy Tail was drastically different. The happy, upbeat and usually obnoxiously loud attitudes had vanished, and were replaced by sullen and disheartened dispositions. Mirajane, Natsu, and Happy had it the most after the confrontation with Joker, which ended in their defeat. Mirajane's cheeks were puffed out after all the crying she had done her eyes red as a result. "W…Why…" She spoke out in a broken tone. "W-why couldn't I protect her…why couldn't I save her…?" Her mind immediately flashed back to the very moment Joker appeared in front of Lisanna, the helpless look on her little sister's face scarred her deeper than the previous time. "We lost her again…and I couldn't even avenge her…"

"They've gone too far…" Natsu spoke while clenching his fist tightly, his arm literally shaking from both anger and sadness.

"I-If I could've gotten there sooner…" Cynthia frowned heavily, putting some of the blame on herself for not being there like she should have been.

"It's not your fault..." Natsu immediately cut her off, though he didn't turn to face her at all. "We…we let our guard down for a second…" As he spoke, his flames ignited around his fist.

"Bastards…" Scoffed Laxus, his arms crossed as he leaned back against a support beam.

"M-Maybe she's still alive…" Cynthia stated with false up. She wanted to try to bring everyone up a bit, but she knew this would fail.

"I couldn't pick up her scent…." Natsu replied. Shortly after, his fist slammed into the table, breaking it; he needed an outlet, and that was all he could find.

"I thought so…neither could I…" Cynthia replied while letting out a heavy sigh.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Third…" Said Mavis as she suddenly appeared sitting next to Makarov, her hands in her lap as she glanced at the floor, a frown on her face; it wasn't long before she herself bursts into tears; she absolutely hated what happened to Lisanna as much as everyone else did.

"First..." Makarov could tell that Mavis was there merely by the feeling she gave off. He sighed, nodding his head after. Upon hearing the spirit of the First Master cry, he let out a heavier sigh, unable to find the words to say to reassure her. It was the first time Makarov didn't have an idea of what to after.

"What happens now…?" Carla asked, looking to the other members of the guild. "What will we do now…?"

A few moments passed until Makarov finally spoke, his eyes glowing yellow. "We will find Dealer…and crush them…I will not forgive them for taking the life of one of my children."

"How do you suppose we go about doin' that, eh?" Gajeel asked, a brow raised in question. "We don't even know where the bastards are to begin with. They blindsided us, and escaped without a trace. None of our noses can pick them up."

"Especially after that nasty stink bomb…" Wendy commented, rubbing her nose to get out some of the lingering odor.

"We'll find a way…!" Levy said as she stood up on a table. She honestly felt useless, and everyone's attitudes were having a negative effect. She had to do something, so she decided to stand tall. "We're Fairy Tail remember…? We don't give up, no matter what may happen! Dealer may have won this time, but when did we start giving up?! We…we have to keep moving forward…" Now, the tears were forming from Levy's eyes as the sadness finally struck her. "L-Lisanna wouldn't want us to just mope around like this…we…we have to do something! She can't…she can't rest easy as long as Dealer is still around…!"

"…She's right…" Elfman spoke as he stood up, his expression different. He was sad, but he was angrier than he was sad. "I failed as a Man to protect my sister once again…" Elfman then flexed his arm, looking to it with a determined look. "But…I still have this arm…and I swear on my pride as a man that I will avenge Lisanna…"

"We're right behind you, Elfman…" Natsu replied as he stood up, his hair still creating a shade over his eyes. "Dealer…I hope you're ready…because Fairy Tail is going to pay you back for everything you've done…"

"Oi…" Gildarts said while taking a step forward. "Before we do anything, let's at least give the girl a proper funeral…" With a nod, Gildarts' hair then covered his eyes, a white aura escaping his body as the building began to rumble. "Because after that, I'm going to personally take care of this "Joker" himself…"

.

.

Things now shift over to White Eclipse, who were know recovering from the battle with Dealer and the loss of a member; Heather. Luke had it the worst since he was the one who killed her with his own two hands. He sat outside the guild on the balcony, staring out into the snow, not uttering a word. Selene walked up, putting her arm around Luke's shoulders for a half hug before staring out into the snow with him. "Hey buddy…" Selene started while giving a gentle smile.

Luke didn't move as Selene hugged him, though he did acknowledge the gesture. "Heh…hey there…amigo…"

"I heard from Kairi and the drunken woman from Fairy Tail about what happened…" Selene started, and she could tell it was still a very touchy subject for the copy mage. "You did the right thing, you know…"

"I know…" Luke replied while looking down. "I set her free…though it's my fault she ended up like that in the first place…" Luke thought that second part to himself.

"I know it's hard, and I'm not going to tell you to try and move on, but just try to be happy, okay…? It's what she would've wanted…" Selene replied while patting Luke on the shoulder.

"Yeah…I'll try…" Luke nodded.

Downstairs in the main room, the other members were finally briefed about what happened while the others were trapped in Dealer. "And that's the long and short end of it…" Reve said.

"Sounds like you guys had a rough time in there…" Kuro said while rubbing the back of his head. "I'm glad to see every-…most everyone okay…"

"We weren't the only ones to lose someone on our side…" Takeru said. "Fairy Tail lost someone too…that Lisanna or whatever her name was. I saw it happen. Joker, their ace, is a monster…he has to be. He fought Salamander and Mirajane, defeating them both with only a few bruises."

"Joker isn't one to be taken lightly…" Saeko said in a serious tone from the couch of the loft. Everyone turned to her after she spoke.

"How do you know about him?" Takeru asked. "You weren't with us."

"The stars tell me a lot…" Saeko replied. "Though, they don't tell me who's going to die…if I knew that, I would've warned Heather and Lisanna…"

"Of course…" Takeru let out a slight sigh. "What the heck do we do now…?"

"There isn't much to do…" Kairi said while walking into the room. "They got what they wanted from all of us…they won."

"I refuse to accept this as a loss." Takeru quickly replied.

"You can't call this a win, either," Adamantine said as he walked into the room, feasting on a human heart. It was better for no one to ask about it.

"Adamantine…good to see you again…" Reve nodded towards the dragon before remembering something. "I haven't seen Skye since we've returned. Where is she?"

"Mister Reve…!" The young Almaz shouted while stumbling into White Eclipse just behind Adam, panting heavily.

"Almaz?" Reve raised a brow at the young child's haste. "What's up…?"

"G-Get everyone and look outside! Hurry!" Almaz pointed to the door.

"What…?" Reve merely shook his head before calling out to everyone inside. "Everyone, get up and get outside!"

"More training…?" Cygnus groaned as he walked outside. "But we just got back…"

"Stop complaining and get moving…" Taya said while pushing Cygnus out the front door.

"I wonder what's happening…" Aira asked as she walked outside. Her question was soon answered as a lacrima screen appeared in the sky. Multiple lacrima screens appeared all over Fiore, actually.

.

.

Siegrain's face appeared on the screens, and he was grinning widely. "Hello, people of Fiore!"

"Siegrain…?" From Fairy Tail, Erza raised a brow and crossed her arms as Siegrain made his announcement.

"Oi, oi…what's going on now…?" Laxus stood beside Erza, glancing up at the lacrima screen. "Oh, it's that guy again…"

In a far off place, Jellal, Ultear, and Meredy too caught a lacrima screen, now glancing up at it, awaiting the all mighty Council Chairman to begin speaking. "Siegrain…" Jellal whispered to himself.

"When I first took office, I said I was going to change Fiore into a better and much safer place." The lacrima screen zooned out, showing Siegrain's body as he started to walk. "And do you all remember how I said I was going to go about doing such a thing?" Siegrain walked over to a chair that was facing away from the lacrima, his hand placed on the arm of it. "Allow me to remind you." Siegrain turned the chair around, revealing a bruised, bloodied, and strapped down Skye Ravenwood.

"SKYE!?" Reve and Kairi shouted in unison.

"H-Hey, wait!" Cynthia's eyes widened as she began to shake her head. "W-what does he think he's doing!?"

"Fiore, I present you with the assassin that has plagued the country for months, Skye Ravenwood!" Siegrain said as his voice literally echoed through the country of Fiore. "I have strapped her to this special machine, you see. When the switch is flipped, it will send a surge of magical energy through this young girl's body, forcing her to requip into her trusted blade, Claymore. After this, I will personally execute this girl and fulfill the promise I made months ago."

"He can't do that…!" Lucy shouted. "She helped during the Tartaros affair and when the angels attacked…! Doesn't he realize this!?"

"I don't think he cares…" Gajeel stated.

"We have to go do something!" Kairi shouted, but she was held back by Reve. "Let me go!"

"Kairi, don't…" Reve ordered. "If you go it'll just make things worse for everyone else…"

"Don't you care that Skye's about to die!?" Kairi questioned, pulling her arm away from Reve.

"I do…!" Reve replied, struggling to find the right words. He didn't want Skye to die, but he didn't want anyone else in White Eclipse to suffer the same fate.

"We have to do something…!" Saeko pleaded.

"Can I pull the switch!?" Odin asked with obvious excitement.

"He's gonna let ME pull the switch, I was the one who captured her, after all." Correll replied to Odin with a smug grin.

"I think Siegrain-sama should pull the switch…" Layanna commented, though nobody heard her. She turned to Rizu, the Council Warden who had blue hair and yellow eyes. "What do you think, Rizu-san…?"

"Hm…?" Rizu turned to Layanna before giving a shrug. "This is Siegrain's choice. I don't care who pulls the switch."

"Justice will be served…" Lahar said to the other captains. "Let Siegrain handle this."

"Now then…" Siegrain walked over to the switch, and with a sadistic grin, he pulled it. In that instant, an electric surge flew through the chair and into Skye, who let out a scream of pain as her magic began to rise. Only moments later did her blade, Claymore, appeared on the ground next to her. Siegrain pulled the switch once more to stop the shock, and walked over to the blade, picking it up and examining it. "Oh…what a fine blade we have here…"

"Siegrain don't you do it…" Kairi growled angrily under her breath, her magic power leaking out, resulting in a miniature tremor in the northern mountains.

Without a word, Siegrain turned to Skye, his sadistic vintage growing. He pulled the sword back and stabbed Skye directly in the chest. Her eyes widened as the blade plunged through her body. Her body was in a state of shock for a few moments before…she faced the lacrima screen and smiled. Her worries were now gone…she didn't have to worry about her family being in danger because of her actions. Skye's eyes slowly closed before she fell into an eternal rest. Siegrain pulled the now bloodied blade out of Skye's chest, bringing it up to his lips. Siegrain trailed his tongue across the bloody blade, licking off Skye's blood. After that, the lacrima screens went off.

"SKYE!" Kairi screamed before launching forward, making a beeline straight for Era, however Adam stopped her by gripping her arm, his grip tight. "Let me go, Adam!"

"Did you not hear Reve…?" Adam asked. In all honesty, he was devastated just as much as Kairi was, but he refused to have anyone around see him like that.

"I don't care! I'm going!" Kairi yelled at the dragon, who shrugged and released his grip. Now, Kairi entered her Uriel Takeover and started to fly…until a hand hit the back of her neck, causing her to go unconscious instantly, exiting her takeover and lying in the snow.

Sidney stood over Kairi while rolling his wrist. "Don't be stupid…she died so we wouldn't suffer the same fate…"

"Sidney…good to see you again…" Waiston merely said with a nod.

.

.

"Oh! Oohohoho!" Hyde had himself a laugh at Siegrain's show. "Brilliant, brilliant, Siegrain Truly an amazing spectacle!"

"So, there are three of them total…" Knightwalker said while sharpening her spear. "Out of all of them, I like that one the best." A slow smirk curled onto Knightwalker's lips. "Siegrain, was it?"

"Indeed…" Aiden gave a nod, his arms crossed behind his back. "I found that little show amusing…" Aiden then turned to Hyde. "Hyde, are you prepared?"

"Unfortunately, I am not…" Hyde replied while tilting his top hat. "My script needs some more revision. And, it appears the actors are not in condition to act out this script…"

"Oh, yes…Fairy Tail lost a person a few days ago, if I'm correct…" Aiden gave a shrug after. "I don't see what their wellbeing has to do with your plans."

"Oh, my dear friend Aiden…" Hyde chuckled for a few moments. "The actors won't be invested enough in their current mood…I want to wait until they are back to how they normally are, because then is where their emotions will show, and the play will begin…"

"…I missed all of that." Knightwalker blinked, completely confused.

"As did I…" Aiden replied before shaking his head. "Doesn't matter…Hyde is a genius in his "scripts" so we will see his meaning soon enough, I hope."

"Yes…" Hyde nodded. "In fact, everything should be going smoothly soon…until then, I'll keep revising…and in fact, I already have an inkling of what I CAN do right now…Keheheh…"


	18. Chapter 17: Funerals Of The Departed

[Flashback: Dealer hideout approx. three days ago (after the events in the previous chapter]

All the members of Dealer gathered before King, who looked down at them with a smug grin. Heartless was on King's side, being his right hand female and all. "My children, you have all done rather well despite the results of some of your battles."

"We got our asses kicked..." Spade grumbled while rubbing the back of his head.

"My defeat is excusable...I had Titania..." Strong said while attempting to justify his loss.

"I had Laxus!" Spade immediately replied.

"Geez, quiet down you two..." Diamond groaned while shaking her head. "We all lost, deal with it..."

"Enough you three, King is speaking." Heartless said in a sharp tone, quickly causing the three to hush.

"Joker, what is your report?" King asked while shuffling a deck of cards.

"It appears my hypothesis was correct." Joker replied.

"Hypothesis...?" Tia turned her head to face Joker, a brow raised in question. "What hypothesis...?"

"You saw my battle with Salamander and Mirajane," Joker replied while showing a recording of the events before the battle and during. "It appears their strength rises when one of their guild members or someone they care about is in danger. However, if that person is dead, they will just run off of pure rage in attempt to defeat the opponent."

"Rage is an emotion that cannot be controlled..." Heartless commented.

"Exactly," Joker nodded in agreement to Heartless' statement. "Their will to protect is what drives them, not the will for revenge of a fallen comrade."

"So, is that their weakness? Confusing the will to protect for revenge?" King asked with a brow raised; he was clearly interested in Joker's report.

"It appears to be that way, Mr. King," Joker gave a nod.

"Excellent!" King grinned widely. "Joker, I am pleased with your results! At this rate, my machine will be complete, and Fiore, and the rest of the world will be mine!"

"Of course..." Heartless nodded.

"You are all dismissed." King waved his hand, dismissing the other members of the guild, and off they went. "Ho ho ho...things are coming along just nicely..."

"King," Heartless started.

"Yes?" King turned to face Heartless, his hands now behind his back.

"I have a question. Tell me, have you ever heard the phrase, "Serving Justice Wherever it's needed"?" Heartless asked. "It's the slogan of the Fiore magic council."

"Why are you bringing this up?" King asked with a slight sneer.

"Just to remind you that the Magic Council will be catching wind of us soon." Heartless replied. "You saw what they did to that White Eclipse mage the other night."

"Ho ho ho..." King's shoulders began to bounce up and down as he let out a laugh. "Ho ho ho! I am aware of that! And as everyone in Fiore saw, he handled it quite nicely. For now, we shall remain under the radar. The attention is now on Siegrain and his power, while Siegrain's focus is elsewhere...we will remain under the radar for now..."

.

.

Outside the main room, Tia was in front of her room. She was just about to enter when Joker called out to her. She turned, a brow raised at the large male approaching her. "Joker...?"

"Tia," Joker gave a nod before crossing his arms. "I couldn't help but notice, but you and Jack have been rather quiet the last few days. Is there a problem?"

Tia remained silent for a few moments before replying. "...Did you really have to kill her?"

"What are you asking? Did I really have to kill Lisanna Strauss?" Joker was now on the end of the questioning, but he allowed this to see what was bothering Tia.

"That's what I asked." Tia replied. "You...you knew she wasn't a threat, she couldn't stand up to you even if she trained for 7 years straight. Yet, you killed her. Why?"

Joker's expression turned into an annoyed one at Tia's response. "I thought I explained this to you. She was a stain upon Earthland. Her weakness was the exact reason she deserved to die. You seem to forget where you are. They are the enemies. They are the future victims. She was just the first to go."

"I thought this was about our goals!" Tia nearly shouted while barely keeping her calm composure. "I didn't know killing innocents who posed no threat was apart of that. I can understand the demon and Salamander, but you let them live."

Joker's irritation began to show as his magical pressure caused the section of Dealer they were in to shake, his eyes locked onto Tia's. "You're forgetting who I am. You're forgetting who you really are. Set aside your "morals" and do what we of Dealer ask of you. Now, I will ask one more time. Is. There. A problem?" Tia began to shiver a bit, from what, she didn't know. She looked down to the ground, staying silent. "There is no problem then." Joker turned on his heel and walked off.

[End Flashback.

Flashforward: Lissanna's funeral outside of Kardis Cathedral]

To match the mood, the weather was gloomy, a light rain falling down from the gray cloud filled sky. Tia and Heartless were watching from a building not too far away from the funeral Fairy Tail was holding for their lost Lisanna. "I still don't understand..." Tia sighed while placing her hands on her lap.

"I can understand." Heartless replied while observing the funeral. "Human emotion, and all that."

"You're the last person I expected to talk a out human nature, little miss Demon..." Tia replied with a slight smirk.

"There are all kinds of things you wouldn't expect from me, Queenie," Heartless replied. "I know you haven't been the same since that event a few months ago."

"Tch..." Tia merely scoffed, turning her head away. "I have no idea what you're talking about..."

"Don't be that way, you know exactly what I'm talking about." Heartless responded. "Before the event, you were attempted to be cruel, ruthless and while some of that was true about you, it did change after the event. Now you're just quiet...you try to show no emotion, but your human nature is getting the better of you, isn't it?"

"Shut up..." Tia replied, now scowling as she watched the funeral. "I know we're on a mission but I know when something crosses the line and that was it. I'm a walking contradiction. Just before I wanted to hear them scream in pain." Just then, Tia stood up, and began walking off.

"Where are you going?" Heartless asked, looking over her shoulder as the S class walked off.

"I'll be back," Tia replied.

.

.

Fairy Tail stood in silence at Lissana's new grave. No one was expecting to have to do this once again, not so soon. Everyone of course wore black to the occasion. Lucy placed her hand on Mirajane and Elfman's shoulders. "I'm sorry about all of this..."

"You don't have to be sorry, Lucy..." Mirajane replied, holding back another seemingly endless stream of tears.

"I failed in my duty as a Man that day..." Elfman replied, instantly going silent after. There was the look of sadness and determination in his eyes. He was going to get stronger so he could protect his family.

"Next time I see any one of those Dealer scum I'll make sure deliver a pain 100x worse than death..." Natsu said while clenching his fist. "I swear on it, Lisanna."

"I don't like losing family..." Cynthia sniffled, staying close to Wendy for various reasons.

"It'll be alright, Cynthia..." Wendy said in a soft tone, though she gave a sniffle herself. This was the time to mourn, later would be the time for payback.

"Ahem..." Tia cleared her throat to alert Fairy Tail of her presence. She could feel the emotions emanating off of the wizards as they gave her the death glare.

"Queen Tia..." Lucy whispered to herself.

"So, is that one of Dealer's mages...?" Gildarts asked while cracking his knuckles.

"Hold on..." Tia said while shaking her head. "I am not so evil to disrupt a mourning."

"Then why the hell are you here?!" Natsu roared, literally ready to jump at the next thing Tia said, no matter what it may be.

"...I am here to give my condolences." Tia replied. Natsu didn't care, as in the next instant, a fiery hook connected against her cheek, tilting her head to the right.

"N-Natsu!" Erza's eyed widened at the sudden attack by Natsu, now ready to strike if Tia decided to retailate.

On the roof of the cathedral, two hooded figures were watching the scene, one taller than the other. The shorter one took a step forward after Natsu made his strike, but the taller one held their hand out in front of them to stop them, shaking their head. "Don't." The taller one said; the voice coming from them was male.

"R-right..." The shorter one said, their voice feminine. "Gomen..."

After a few movements, her head tilted back to normal, a burn mark now on her cheek. She didn't flinch, nor change her facial expression. She blinked slowly, looking down a the livid Natsu, who was ready to strike again at the next thing she said. "I'm not here as an enemy right now, so don't take your anger out on me, Salamander...I didn't take her away from you...but don't think this changes anything...we are all still enemies..." Tia turned on her heel, and began to walk off.

"What was that about...?" Gray questioned with a befuddled expression.

"Juvia doesn't know..." Juvia replied while giving the same expression as Gray.

Lucy stared in the direction Tia walked off in for a few seconds before walking after her. "...I'm going after her."

"Wait, why?!" Happy questioned, his eyes wide from Lucy's action.

"She's not here as an enemy, and while that's that case, there something that's been bothering about her," Lucy replied as she headed into town. After a few moments of walking, Lucy spotted Tia walking down the street, so she ran over to her. "Tia...!"

Tia stopped once Lucy called out to her, turning around slowly to face the celestial blonde. "What do you want...? I can't bring Lisanna back to life."

"Why...?" Lucy nearly shouted. "Why did you come by? Were you making a mockery of her?!"

Tia sighed and shook her head slowly. "I would do no such thing to the departed...I stopped by because I know when the line has been crossed. She was one of the few mages who wasn't a threat overall. Yet Joker eradicated her. Jack and I haven't come to terms with his actions yet."

Lucy blinked a few times, taken aback by Tia's response. There was a human side to her, unlike any of the other Dealer members she encountered. She then shook her head, refusing to believe Tia's words. "Is that so?! Then why did you prevent me from helping Natsu and Mirajane? Joker would've-"

Tia cut her off, her scepter now in hand as she pointed it towards the blonde. "You seem to forget, he was after you in the first place. If you stepped into that battle, there would be a funeral for the both of you. I was being generous by stopping you."

"W-what...?" Lucy blinked a few times, her brown oculars staring into Tia's azure eyes to see if there was any hint of a lie. Tia wasn't showing any emotion, but she was certainly telling the truth. "I don't understand...why are you in Dealer if you're going against your superior's?"

Tia turned her back to Lucy, but she didn't walk off just yet. "I'm not going against my superiors, I'm not as vacant in the head as you are. Jack and I joined Dealer to create an order. Killing innocents isn't apart of the order Jack and I have envisioned...though it very well may be soon. Don't expect my act of generosity ever again. I gave you my reasoning, so take that to be a warning. If you stand in the way again, don't expect me to be so merciful..."

Just then, Erza walked up behind Lucy, her arms crossed. "There you are..."

"Erza?" Lucy turned, a look of confusion on her face at the presence of the scarlet knight. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to make sure she didn't try anything," Erza replied to Lucy while keeping her gaze on Tia. "Why did you avoid Natsu's attack? I know you could've avoided it."

"I thought I already told you..." Tia sighed, shaking her head from side to side. "I'm not here as your enemy. If I avoided the attack, I would've been seen as such. I'm not here for confrontation, I came to give my condolences...Human emotion is what drive us all, though the emotion depends on the person. Blind rage only works to a degree, you know..." The rain began to pick up as Tia spoke. "But, I've already explained myself to Lucy, so she can explain and give you my warning..." Tia turned on her heel, and began to walk off.

.

.

[Kardia Cathedral: Approximately at the same time of Lucy and Tia's conversation]

"Man...these funerals are really a downer, huh?" Jack asked with his back leaning against a tombstone. His presence brought forth another wave of rage from Natsu.

Laxus stepped forward, his arms crossed as he glared down at the S class child. "What the hell are ya doin' here..? You asking for a beat down or something?"

"Nothing of the sort, old geezer," Jack replied while waving a dismissive hand. "You already heard it from my sister, so I'm not gonna say it again. I wouldn't say it even if my life depended on it. Just know I'm not here for a fight...(for now)"

"If you're so sorry, why didn't you even try to stop it?" Mirajane asked with a deep glare.

"Don't direct your hate towards me, I didn't do anything. And you must be crazy if you think I would stop JOKER of all people from doing what he wants. He showed you mercy, you know. If I stepped in, he would've taken me out too. But, I had no reason to step in in the first place, so why get upset at me for that?"

"If you're here just to mock-" Gildarts started.

"Oi, oi...calm down, idiots..." Jack sighed. "Just because I'm on Joker's side doesn't mean I agree with what he did. I'm gonna let you guys in on something. Sis and I are after a certain type of order. Joker's actions go against our order and our, as Heartless said, human nature. Though this was a little bump on the road, this won't stop us, or Dealer from reaching our goals. Now that I'm telling your part of our motives, don't expect things to be so easy next time we meet. We are enemies, after all, and I want to use my talons to rip your heads off from your shoulders. BUT, I won't for now."

"For now, huh..?" Cynthia couldn't help but glare at the boy.

"Don't worry about it, short stack," Jack chuckled and patted Cynthia's head in a condescending manner, but she swatted his hand away.

"This is Lisanna's time" Natsu started as his fist clenched tightly. "You should leave before I do something I might not regret...You have three seconds." Natsu growled towards Jack, who merely shrugged.

"I'm done anyway." Jack replied, turning around and walking off. "Just remember, don't get in our way. If you do, you'll share the same fate as your little animal friend..."

.

.

[White Eclipse: The same time as the events in Magnolia]

White Eclipse held two funerals at the same time; one for Heather, and the other for Skye. The mood was just as sullen in the mountains as it was in Magnolia. "While we were off dealing with those Dealer scum Skye got captured..." Reve grunted in frustration.

"And while we were captured they got the jump on he and Heather paid the price for it..." Luke let out a heavy sigh, looking down at the snow.

"I didn't know this would happen to Skye-chan..." Saeko sniffed, her tears falling into the snow.

"I was a terrible sister to her..." Kairi let out a heavy, depressed sigh. "I wasn't even around her that much..."

"Don't blame yourself," Reve said while shaking his head.

"I just can't believe the council had the nerve to do such a thing..." Aira said in a low tone. "Even if she was a killer, that was something we would have to deal with...it was our problem to handle, not theirs..."

"She's in a better place now, that's all we can ask for, right..?" Nami asked while looking around to the others.

"I suppose so..." Reve merely replied while looking up into the sky. "Tomorrow, we go back to training."

"Can't let our guard down this time...!" Almaz exclaimed.

"What he said..." Takeru nodded.

.

.

A male in a steel suit of armor stood across from Hyde, sword and shield at the ready. "Who are you, and what business do you have here?"

"Now, now..." Hyde said while shaking his head. "I haven't done anything (yet) and nor am I here to pose a threat. I merely have a proposal for you and your guild, Tristan Gareth. SS class of Black Phoenix, correct?"

Tristan kept his guard up, but he showed some interest in Hyde's speech. "What is it...?"

A slow smirk appeared on Hyde's face. "I'll make this short and simple..."


	19. Chapter 18: Tournament Prep

A few weeks have passed since the funerals for the departed. Things slowly returned to normal for both Fairy Tail and White Eclipse. Fairy Tail slowly returned to the usual loudness it was known for and the members tried to press on without Lisanna once again. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world but they were getting it done, because they knew she wouldn't want them to mope around without her. Natsu tapped his foot somewhat impatiently on the guild floor, his expression showing that he was expecting something that had yet to come. Noticing this, Lucy walked over to the dragon slayer with a raised brow. "What's wrong, Natsu?" Lucy inquired, hoping nothing was wrong.

"They've been taking forever to make a move…" Natsu replied while closing his eyes, his arms crossed as his foot tapping seemed to increase at the mere mention of it.

"You mean Dealer, don't you…?" Lucy sighed as she took a seat on the chair nearby.

Natsu gave a nod. "Yeah…I've been itching to pay them back and now they don't show their faces of course…"

"Don't worry, Natsu," Lucy gave a reassuring smile. "When we see them again, we'll pay them back for what they've done. No matter what, we've always won in the end, right?"

"Heh…" Slowly, a smile appeared on Natsu's face at Lucy's words. He gave a nod after. "Yeah, that's right! I hope they know what's coming to them!"

At a table on the other side of the guild, Wendy and Cynthia were having a chat. Carla was sitting on the table itself, listening in on the conversation, but she couldn't help but stare at Cynthia every so often, her vision from before quickly flashing into her mind. Every time she looked at Cynthia, she saw it. It played quickly, but she couldn't make anything out. The setting seemed familiar, but Carla couldn't put her head on it. In her vision, she saw an injured Wendy, Lucy, Natsu, Erza, an uninjured woman who looked similar to Cynthia, an unfamiliar face who was laughing, and Cynthia herself, surrounded by a flare of red flames. "What is this all about…?" Carla thought to herself.

Cynthia blinked a few times, waving at Carla. "Uh…Carla…?"

"Hm…?" Carla shook her head, snapping out of her little trace after Cynthia called out to her. "What is it?"

"You keep staring at me every few seconds…is there something on my face?" Cynthia asked, now using a nearby spoon as a quick mirror.

"Oh, no, you're fine! I guess I'm just tired…" Carla replied.

"Are you sure you're alright…?" Wendy asked while examining her exceed partner.

"Yes, I'm fine, honest…" Carla nodded. She didn't want to say anything about her vision, she rarely did. Plus, she had no idea what it meant, so she would have to find out whenever the event happened, but she didn't even know how long it would be from now.

A short amount of time later, Tristan (from the previous chapter) walked inside the Fairy Tail doors, holding a paper in his hands. Erza was the first person to take notice, so she walked over to Tristan with a quizzical expression. "Is there something we can help you with?"

"Erza Scarlet, correct?" Tristan asked, to which he received a nod.

"That is correct," Erza replied. "What have you come to Fairy Tail for?"

After hearing he was correct, Tristan gave a respectful nod to the scarlet knight. "Well, Erza-san, my name is Tristan Gareth. I am the SS class mage of Black Phoenix."

"Black Phoenix?" Erza tiled her head while listening to Tristan. "Is that a new guild?"

"You could say that," Tristan replied before continuing. "My master thought it would be a good idea to get to know the other guilds better, so she came up with an idea. But, I need to speak with your master about it before doing anything else, if that wouldn't be a problem?"

"Of course…it shouldn't be a problem. Follow me." With a nod, Erza turned on her heel and led Tristan over to the bar where Makarov was, drinking beer as per usual. "Master, we have a guest who wishes to speak to you."

"Hm…?" Makarov lowered his mug and observed Tristan. A small part of him hoped it would've been an attractive female but we all can't have what we want now can we? "I am Makarov, third and sixth master of Fairy Tail, how may I help you?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Makarov-san," Tristan said while giving a respectful nod once again. "I am from the guild Black Phoenix, and my master thought it would be good if we could get a few guilds together." Tristan then handed Makarov the paper in his hands. "Please, read this and tell me what you think about it."

"What's this?" Makarov's eyes skimmed the paper as he read it aloud. "There will be a guild tournament in Clover Town this weekend starting Friday hosted by our very own Black Phoenix; all guilds are welcome to join…"

"Tournament?" The ears of the guild seemed to pick up the word as soon as it left Makarov's lips.

"What do you think, Makarov-san? Will you allow Fairy Tail to participate?" Tristan asked as the paper was handed back.

"A tournament? I'm already in! Let's go!" Cynthia hopped from her seat, bouncing up and down with excitement.

"It has been awhile since we've gotten to do anything, Master…" Erza commented, her want for some action starting to show.

"This weekend, correct…?" Makarov asked Tristan for confirmation. How could even turn down the offer when all of his children were excited just from hearing about it.

"That is correct." Tristan said with a slight grin from the basic acceptance of the invitation. "Here, I've marked a map with Black Phoenix on it. If you have any questions, please feel free to drop by." Tristan then turned around and began to walk off. "I'll see you all next weekend, then?"

"Indeed…" Makarov said with a grin.

"Excellent…" Tristan chuckled before walking out of the guild.

"A tournament!" Lucy exclaimed with a large grin. "This is exactly what we need!"

"Let's actually win this one too…" Macao commented with a cough.

"We made third in the Grand Magic Games, but those Games weren't exactly the most fair that year…" Gray commented. "But, I have a good feeling about this one!"

"It's this weekend, correct?" Cynthia asked as she hopped towards Makarov.

"That's right, starting Friday." Makarov replied.

"And what's today, gramps?" Laxus inquired while crossing his arms.

"Thursday," The sixth master replied, taking a sip from his mug before the realization struck him. "Gah!"

"We should be leaving…" Freed coughed.

"I agree! To Clover Town! And let's aim for Number 1 as always!" Makarov shouted.

Just outside of Fairy Tail, the two hooded figures who watched Lisanna funeral eavesdropped on Fairy Tail. The male smirked slightly once he heard Fairy Tail agreeing to enter the tournament. "So, there's gonna be a tournament, eh?" He then looked to his hooded female companion. "It'll be good to see them in action, don't you think?"

"Mhm…" The female nodded, staring into the window while the members talked it out. "I think Fairy Tail has a good chance at this, they have been working harder since Dealer attacked…"

"I agree with you there…I can't wait to see how this is going to turn out…" The male nodded, now turning his back. "Let's go and get there before they decide to rush outta here. It wouldn't be good if they saw us just yet."

"Aye…" The female nodded and turned around, walking off with her male companion to Clover Town ahead of Fairy Tail.

Just on the other side of the building, Tia, Jack, and Diamond observed the conversations going on about the tournament. "A tournament, hm…?" Diamond tapped her chin a few times before getting an idea. "Tia, I got it…!"

"I was already planning on watching it," Tia replied, cutting Diamond off in the process.

"You're pretty slow..." Jack chuckled.

"E-Eh…" Diamond huffed after, merely crossing her arms. "Well, whatever, you can have fun with that and send whatever you find back to us."

"Of course I will…" Tia sighed before turning around. "This is the chance to observe the current statuses of members of a few guilds, providing they join. I wouldn't pass this up, there's too much at stake in the long run for us. Now, I'm going to go before they spot us, I care not if you come with or decide to return to base." Tia then walked off.

"Jeez, so cold hearted lately…Even more than myself…" Diamond sighed and followed Tia and Jack.

"You get on her bad side..." Jack replied to Diamond's mumble with an indifferent shrug.

.

.

In White Eclipse, the still amnesic Jaxon stared at the Grand Magic Games trophy on the top of the cupboard. He blinked at it a few times, trying to remember what it was and where it even game from. "Hm…"

"Oi…" Taya called out to Jaxon to grab his attention, a successful attempt as the male turned around. "What are you staring at?"

"This thing…" Jaxon said while pointing to the trophy.

"The Grand Magic Games trophy we won last year?" Taya asked while walking forward.

"We won the Grand Magic Games last year…?" Jaxon blinked a few times, rather astonished by the fact.

"Yes…" Taya gave a nod. "You participated in a fight and won."

"I did? Wow, go me, I guess." Jaxon couldn't help but smirk to himself.

Moments later, a knocking sound came from the door. "I got it!" Luke shouted as he hurried down the stairs; he was the doorman most of the time, after all. He opened the door, only seeing Tristan standing there in the cold, seemingly unfazed by it. "Can we help you?"

"Yes, hello, I'm here to speak with your master? Or whoever else is in charge. My name is Tristan." Tristan said with a nod.

"Name's Luke," Luke replied before stepping back, allowing Tristan to step inside.

"Yo, Reve!" Luke called out to the gunslinger, who walked down the stairs after hearing his name. "We have a guest and he wants to speak with you or Master."

"Thank you, Luke-san." Tristan said as he walked inside.

"Eh? The old man is sick so I'm usually the one in charge here," Reve said as he walked towards Tristan. "So, who are you and what do you think I can help you with?"

"My guild, Black Phoenix, is hosting a tournament in Clover Town this Friday, and it will continue over the weekend," While Tristan spoke, he handed Reve the paper explaining everything. "My guild master believes this will be a good way to get to know the other guilds for this friendly competition."

"Another tournament?" Taya asked while walking towards Reve and Tristan; she couldn't help but overhear the conversation and it peaked her interest.

"Tomorrow, huh?" Reve asked while observing the paper. He thought it over for a few seconds before giving a nod. "Alright, we'll join. It's been a while since we've shown how and why White Eclipse is the strongest guild."

"So you will be joining, then? Excellent." Tristan gave a nod and walked outside. "I'll see you all tomorrow."

"It's been a while since we've gotten to warm up…Looks like all that hardass training will finally be paying off." Luke said with a slight smirk.

"Of course," Reve replied before walking down the halls, firing off a bullet so the noise would gather everyone's attention. "Oi, lazy asses, get up!"

"What now…" Cygnus groaned as he trudged out of his room. "I thought today was our day off?"

"Stop complaining and get moving," Reve replied while he pointed to the door. "There's a tournament in Clover Town starting tomorrow and we have to get moving."

"What about Master? Is he coming?" Nami asked as she bounced happily out of her room.

"I'll take him with us!" Aira said with a nod. "When are we leaving?"

"As soon as possible," Reve replied. "Everyone's gonna see why we're the number one guild once again, so let's get going."

"Aye!"

.

.

Tristan returned to Black Phoenix via teleportation magic. As soon as he returned, he was greeted by a few of his members. "Ola-san, Leon-san, I would like to tell you that it all went very well."

A tall female with long black hair and matching black eyes stepped forward. She was quite attractive, and she wore a black jacket, a black skirt, knee-high black boots and a white undershirt. Ola Belle, Master of Black Phoenix. She didn't speak however. More so, she couldn't. She was mute. She instead lifted her finger and wrote words into the air to form a sentence. "Did it? Who all will be joining us, then?"

"Fairy Tail and White Eclipse have agreed to join. Along with Lamia Scale, Mermaid Heel, Quatro Cerberus and Sabertooth. Twilight Zone may or may not be coming…I didn't feel too comfortable stepping inside Blue Pegasus so I slid the note under their door…" Tristan replied, a classic anime sweat drop forming on his forehead at the last sentence.

The male with blue hair tied into a pony tail, green eyes, and wore a standard outfit of shirt, shoes, and pants grinned at the amount of guilds Tristan managed to recruit for this event. Leon Shi, the Acid Dragon Slayer. "That's great, Tristan-senpai!" Leon said with a large, kawaii grin. "You managed to get lots of strong opponents for this; I can't wait to face off against them!"

"Neither can I," Tristan said with a slight smile.

Ola gave a nod before writing in the air "I'll tell the others the tournament is going on and get the rules ready."

"Everyone is sleeping, I believe," Tristan said, immediately covering his ears after because he knew what was coming.

A devious grin appeared on Ola's lips as she turned around. Then, from her own shadow, came large, demonic looking shadows with sharp fangs. These shadows sprinted down the hallway and began to screech in a slightly comical way, startling the other members.

.

.

"Ah, just as the script says…" Hyde nodded to himself, pleased with his work.

"You and your scripts…" Knightwalker merely sighed as she walked over to Hyde. "What is it you have planned this time?"

"Oh, I don't have anything planned," Hyde replied. "I just influenced something so my scouting for actors can begin. It's a process, see…"

"Right…" Knightwalker replied, half listening to Hyde while the other half of her attention was on her spear, a slow, dark smirk curling onto her features as she began to speak once again. "I'll go with you; I want to see how Scarlet has been doing lately…"


	20. Chapter 19: The Tournament Begins

"This place is huge…!" Cynthia gawked at the size of Clover Town as she and a few others such as Erza, Natsu, Happy, Lucy, Wendy and Carla walked about the town.

"It's not as large as Crocus, but it's certainly larger than Magnolia…" Erza replied to Cynthia's statement with a nod.

"We could get lost here if we aren't careful…" Lucy said while she looked around the crowded town. "I feel like a part of this was unorganized…where are we supposed to stay until tomorrow?"

"Perhaps we could check by an inn and see?" Wendy suggested while looking up to Lucy.

"That sounds like a good idea to me," Carla gave a nod of agreement to Wendy's suggestion.

"Off we go then," Erza gave a small smile before leading the group around the town, hoping to find an inn sometime soon.

"I'm fired up for this tournament!" Natsu said while throwing a fist into the air. "We're gonna take this one home, no doubt!"

"Aye!" Happy exclaimed, throwing a fist in the air to mimic Natsu's action.

"I haven't had a good fight in so long! …Wait, how do we even know who's participating in this?" Cynthia asked while looking to the older mages.

"Master is taking care of that," Erza replied. "He went over to the Black Phoenix Guild…actually, I think it may be a good idea to stop by there and see how that has gone."

"I don't have a problem with that!" Lucy gave a nod. "I would like to meet the members if possible anyway, since they're going through the trouble of organizing this thing anyway. The least we could do is say hello and thank them."

"Off we go then!" Cynthia said in a somewhat sing-song voice as she skipped ahead.

"…Do you know where you're going?" Wendy called out to her best friend.

"Of course not! But I wanna sight see first!" Cynthia replied as she turned a corner.

"…She's gonna get lost…" Wendy couldn't help but giggle a bit before following Cynthia with Carla. "I guess we'll be sightseeing. Find us when you're done? I don't want to stay out too late…"

"Not a problem, we'll find you as soon as possible!" Lucy shouted while she walked off with the others.

As Cynthia turned the corner, she immediately crashed into another person, falling on her butt after. "Oof!" She shook her head quickly, looking over to see who she crashed into. "O-ow! Gomen! I was just…!"

"Ouch…I tripped…" Chelia shook her head as she groaned, looking forward to see Cynthia, and Wendy (and Carla) who just turned the corner. "Oh! Wendy! Cynthia!"

"Chelia!" The two dragon slayers exclaimed with glee at the sight of the pinkette.

"What are you two doing here?" Chelia asked as she stood up.

"We're here for that tournament Black Phoenix is hosting!" Cynthia replied as she hopped up. "And we're totally gonna win it!"

A slow smirk appeared on the god slayer's lips at Cynthia's words. "Is that so? Because I think Lamia Scale as a pretty good chance at taking it~"

"Have you been practicing your dual mode…?" Wendy asked while gazing over Chelia.

"And not destroying stuff with it like last time…" Cynthia coughed as she added in that last comment.

"Or bringing harm to other people…" Carla added on with a mumble.

"I…" A sweat drop appeared on Chelia's head from the constant questioning. It was all partly true during her training. "Well…I can control it…for the most part…BUT! I can guarantee Lamia Scale's victory!"

"We'll see about that, pinky!" Cynthia replied, suddenly forehead to forehead with the god slayer.

"There they go again…" Wendy gave a sheepish laugh while poking her index fingers together.

"Speaking of dual modes…" Carla began while looking up at Wendy. "Have you been practicing yours?"

"E-Eh…?" Wendy looked down at Carla before shaking her head. "No…I haven't used Omega Flame Sky in a while, mainly because I always get this funny feeling after I use it. That's why I haven't really used the full mode itself since the incidents a few months ago…but I can still feel the Omega Flame burning inside me, growing stronger as I do…"

"I see…" Carla merely gave a nod in response before turning to Cynthia and Chelia…who were now comically fighting in a dust cloud. "When did-…"

"This happens a lot…" Wendy said with a sigh.

.

.

"Oh my…" Aira said to herself as she somehow entered the bad section of Clover Town, filled with the thugs and lowlifes of the city. "It appears I've become separated with the others…I hope I can get out of here soon…"

As Aira walked around, a thug and a few of his goons approached the innocent and seemingly vulnerable wind mage, a sinister grin drawn on their faces as they neared her. "Well, lookie 'ere, fellas..." The leader spoke with his grin growing.

"Oh...hello...!" Aira said with a sweet smile. "I seem to have gotten lost...can you help me get back to the...nicer looking areas of the town?"

There was a small murmur from the smaller members of the group, which quickly turned into a snicker. The leader gave a nod. "Sure thing..." In the next instant, he shoved Aira down, but before he could do anything else a fist slammed into his face, causing him to stumble back. "O-Oi!"

Leon stood in front of Aira with a low glare, his hair creating a shadow over his eyes, which only increased the intimidating green glow emitting from them. "I knew I melt trouble...leave this young lady alone. This is your first, and only warning."

"W-who the hell are you to order me around, punk?!" The leader exclaimed in a fit of rage. He took a step forward, but Leon moved his head to stare at the leader, and that was all that was needed to change his mind and sent him running along with his goons.

After the thugs ran off, Leon's serious demeanor quickly vanished and he turned around, extending his hand to help Aira up, a friendly smile drawn on his face now. "Hello, miss. Are you okay?"

Nodding quickly, Aira took Leon's hand and stood up, dusting herself off. "Y-yes! Thank you..."

"It was no problem!" Leon replied. "My name is Leon Shi! You are?"

"I'm Aira Aeolus, wind mage of White Eclipse..." Aira replied with a smile.

"Oh, I see!" Leon then took Aira's hand and excitedly led her over to Black Phoenix. "You got lost, didn't you? Don't worry, I'll take you there myself!"

.

.

Black Phoenix was a large (about the size of a full castle) guild that rested on the side of a waterfall. Everyone gathered in the main room hours later, about evening now. The Masters were talking about the rules of the tournament while everyone else just mingled. "So, this tournament will be moving through the weekend, is that correct?" Makarov asked Ola, who gave a nod in response.

"How will this happen, exactly?" Calium asked while giving glances to the other guild masters. "There are a lot of participants, so it's going to take a while no matter what happens."

To respond to Calium, Ola wrote in the air. "I am aware of that, Master Calium. It wasn't easy to devise a format that would take three days with all the people we have, but I've managed to come up with a solution. Though, I'd rather not explain it twice, so can you wait until the tournament bracket is put up in a little bit?"

"Fine with me..." Calium said with a nod.

Elsewhere in the guild, Erza looked around, surprised by the interior design of the guild. She heard footsteps behind her, so she turned, eyes widening as she saw Jellal (disguised as Mystoga, of course). "Jellal…? What are you doing here…!?" Erza immediately walked over to Jellal, eying him curiously. "And why are you dressed as Mystogan again…?"

"Erza, it's good to see you again…" Jellal said through the mask. He looked around before answering, his voice getting lower to a near whisper. "I heard about this tournament, and I decided to check in to see how it would go…but, after Meredy, Ultear and I got here, I sensed the faint darkness…similar to Zeref's darkness back at the Grand Magic Games…"

"Do you think someone will try to jeopardize the tournament…?" Erza asked with a raised brow. "And Meredy and Ultear are around here…?"

"I think so…and yes, they are out of sight, though…" Jellal replied. "I asked your master to let me in this tournament to investigate…"

"I see…" Erza gave a nod as her response. "Be careful…there are many people around here and your identity could easily be discovered…"

"I know…but don't worry; everything should be under control…" Jellal replied with a nod.

.

.

Since he had access to the fridge, Natsu and Happy immediately made their way to the kitchen, piling up a large stack of food on a table. Natsu's mouth watered as he gazed at the delectable feast in front of him. He reached to grab a fork before he said screw it and began chowing down. "This food is great!"

"Aye!" Happy said while happily chowing down on a raw fish he found.

"It's good, right!?" Leon said as he sat down across from Natsu, helping himself to the other side of the feast on the table.

"Eh..?" Natsu gulped down the piece of chicken in his mouth and moved to get a better look at Leon, a brow raised. "Who're you?"

"Leon Shi! Acid Dragon Slayer of Black Phoenix!" Leon said with a bright smile. "I know who you are! Salamander of Fairy Tail, the fire dragon slayer, correct?"

"That's right." Natsu gave a nod before standing up, a smirk crossing his face. "It's nice to meet ya, Leon, and I hope you know that Fairy Tail will be winning this tournament!"

Leon kept his bright smile as Natsu spoke. "Maybe you will, who knows?" Leon admitted before standing up. "I know you're really strong, and I hope we get to fight in the tournament, I love fighting strong opponents. But…if we do fight, I'm not holding back."

"I wouldn't expect you to!" Natsu replied. "I'm not holding back on anyone in this tournament!"

"Good!" Leon then turned on his heel, walking off while giving a wave to Natsu. "I can't wait to see you in action tomorrow, Salamander. Until then…"

"He was pretty weird, honestly…" Happy said in between bites of his fish.

"Maybe so…" Natsu said before pausing, pounding a fist into an open palm with an excited grin. "But he had that aura around him…I could sense it…I really hope I get to fight that guy, because he's really strong…"

.

.

From the shadows, Future Rogue watched as Team Sabertooth (composed of none other than Sting, Rogue, Orga, Rufus, and Yukino) conversed about the upcoming tournament. "How nostalgic…" Future Rogue muttered to himself before is eyes wandered to Frosch, who seemed to be safe for the time being. He remembered his words to Natsu a year ago, how Frosch would die soon and how that would bring Rouge into the darkness. It was only a matter of time now. He didn't want his presence to be detected, so he vanished as quickly as he appeared, planning to watch how this tournament would pan out.

.

.

On the roof of Black Phoenix, the hooded male and his female companion watched via lacrima screen what was going on inside the large guild. "Man, it's a large turnout…I didn't think so many people would show up."

"It's only Fairy Tail, White Eclipse, Sabertooth, Lamia Scale, Quatro Cerberus, and a few members of Mermaid Heel…excluding Black Phoenix from all of this, anyway…" The female replied.

"This should be a good one then…I can't wait to see how this will all play out…" The male grinned. "This is an excellent chance to see if my hypothesis will hold up…"

.

.

"Wow, it's so crowded in there…" Jack said while gazing through a window of Black Phoenix. A devilish grin appeared on his face as he opened his palm, creating a purple flame, now mumbling to himself. "The temptation to raze this entire building is too high…"

"Jack." Tia said in a stern tone. She wasn't even looking at him but she could tell what he was thinking.

"Tch…" Jack stopped, crossing his arms after.

"How long are we going to stay here…?" Diamond asked while groaning. "It's hot here…"

"You don't have to stay then, go home," Tia replied. "Jack and I are scouting these mages, you're free to do whatever you like as long as it doesn't jeopardize us."

"Since when have I ever!" Diamond started, but Tia's cold stare shut her up. "Fine, fine…" Diamond coughed before taking her leave.

"She's annoying…" Tia grumbled before glancing back inside Black Phoenix.

"For once, Spade's inventions weren't useless…this magic barrier thing hides our presence, right?" Jack asked, looking for confirmation.

"That's right…unless they actually see us; we're invisible to detection…" Tia replied with a nod. "Now, ssh…I think an announcement is about to be made, finally…"

.

.

With everyone finally gathered in the main room, Ola nodded before taking a seat, looking down at the others. She wrote in the air in large black letters. "Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today in Black Phoenix's tournament. I'm glad those who did arrive could. Now then, I'm sure you're all curious on how this tournament is going to go down, yes?"

"Yeah!" Sting exclaimed, unable to hold back his excitement. He then blinked a few times, whispering to his fellow guild mates. "Wait…why isn't she talking…?"

"She's mute, Sting…" Rouge said while letting out a sigh. "Don't be rude…"

"I wasn't…! I was just wondering…!" Sting replied in a defensive tone.

Ola continued, not even noticing the conversation between Sting and Rogue. "This will be a single elimination type tournament…meaning if a person is defeated in battle they are out, and the winner moves on. Whoever wins the finals wins the tournament for their guild. If there is a draw, both fighters are out. Understand so far?"

"So far is seems rather clear cut…" Lyon nodded.

"I have a question, Ola-dono…" Jura said to capture the silent master's attention. "Where will the arena for this be?"

"Oh, that's simple," Ola wrote out with a slight sly grin. "The arena is Clover Town. Do not worry, for we've told everyone this ahead of time, so they'll be retreating from the vicinity rather quickly."

"That seems kinda unfair doesn't it…?" Lucy mumbled before giving a shrug, it wasn't like she had much say about it.

"Now, I'm sure you're all curious to see who's on the team for each guild, yes?" Ola asked.

"I believe we picked a good time this year…" Makarov chuckled.

Ola snapped her fingers, creating a lacrima screen with the guild names; under them were pictures of the participates in each team.

Team Fairy Tail: Erza, Natsu, Lucy, Gajeel, Wendy, Cynthia, Gray, Juvia, Mystogan (Jellal) and Laxus.

Team White Eclipse: Reve, Tayakata, Luke, Takeru, Cygnus, Aira, Selene, Kuro, and Waiston.

Team Sabertooth: Sting, Rogue, Yukino, Orga, and Rufus.

Team Lamia Scale: Lyon, Jura, Chelia, Toby, Yuka, and Raven.

Team Mermaid Heel: Kagura, Milliana, and Melody.

Team Qautro Cerberus: Bacchus, Blues, Kuro Chi, Cyntherea, and Rocker.

Team Black Pheonix: Tristan, Lucina, Leon, Trinity, and Ola.

"Those are the teams," Ola wrote.

"Whoa whoa whoa I've never seen him before…" Cynthia said while pointing to Raven's picture.

"You'll meet him soon enough~" Chelia replied.

"Sidney's not in…?" Luke blinked a few times as he looked to the ace.

"It wouldn't be a competition if I did…" Sidney replied with his usual lack of emotion. Though he did mean what he said.

"True…" Luke replied with a nod. "Though, only nine…? No one else wanted to fill in for Kairi, huh…?"

"I'm not in the mood," Kairi merely replied.

"That Ola chick is fighting?" Cyngus raised a brow. "Didn't think the master would fight in her own tournament but alright then…"

"It wouldn't be fun if I just sat and watched," Ola replied to Cygnus with a slight grin.

"The first round will take up the rest of the day, okay?" Ola asked, wanting to see if there were any problems. There seemed to be none, so Ola snapped her fingers, now randomizing the matches. "The first match will be Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail vs. Blues of Qautro Cerberus!"

"Heh, I get to face Titania?" Blues smirked as he began to stretch.

"You got this, Blues! Go wild out there!" Bacchus shouted with encouragement.

A girl, (yes a girl is in Quatro Ceberus now) with wavy brown hair, shorts and an orange top cheered Blues on. "You can do it, Blues!"

"He's got this…Titania may be strong, but Blues will bring her down under…" Kuro Chi smirked slightly.

"Heh, thanks, Kuro, Cy, and Bacchus. I'll be sure to take this one home." With a nod, Blues walked out of Black Phoenix and into Clover Town.

"He's a strong one…" Erza thought to herself before walking out.

"She's got this! She's Erza, after all." Cynthia nodded a few times.

"I would like to direct everyone to the arena," Tristan said in attempt to catch everyone's attention. "It's large enough to seat everyone and we can watch the match from in there."

"Let's go then!" Natsu exclaimed, running off ahead though he had no idea where he was going.

"E-Er…Natsu-san…" Tristan merely sighed as the Salamander ran off.

"He's a handful…" Makarov said while patting Tristan on the back. "Don't worry…"

.

.

In the middle of an open street, Erza and Blues stood across from one another. A smirk appeared on Blues' lips as he immediately entered his Blue Drive. "I say we skip the warm up, Titania…?"

"Very well…" Erza's demeanor changed along with her armor. A heavenly light wrapped itself around her body and within seconds she changed into her Lightning Empress armor, going for he advantage immediately. "Let the battle commence!"


	21. Chapter 20: Erza vs Blues

"So, Scarlet's up first, hm…?" Knightwalker took immediate interest in Erza's battle, but not too much interest in her opponent yet. "Lovely, I get to see how she's been holding up after all this time~."

"Yes, yes…this was an excellent idea…" Hyde nodded to himself, crossing his arms after. "Let's see what these two are capable of…"

.

.

"Oh, ho! Titania's up first!" The hooded male figured rubbed his hands together in excitement, throwing some sort of generic brand snack in his mouth. "This is bound to be a good fight! …Or an extremely quick one knowing her record…"

"We'll see…" The female replied with a nod.

.

.

"What's up with that getup?" Jack asked his elder sibling as he glanced at Erza in her Lightning Empress armor.

"She's a requip mage, just like you and I, Jack," Tia began. "But, she has many more armors than we do. 100 to 1, literally. But, I'm assuming that this Blues is a water mage, so lightning is very effective against water mages…"

"Oh, yeah…Lightning is your biggest weakness. You can't even move after it hits you for a good while…" Jack replied.

"Exactly…She's going for the quick finish it seems…" Tia gave a nod, keeping her eyes more on Blues than Erza to see how he was going to react to the lightning that would soon strike down on him.

.

.

Erza and Blues stood across from each other, Erza in her Lightning Empress Armor, and Blues in his Blue Drive. The warm up was nonexistent, the fight was about to begin. "You ready Titania?" Blues asked with a smirk.

Erza gave a nod, sliding into a stance with her spear held forward. "I'm ready, Blues."

"Then let's get started!" With that exclamation, the water dragon slayer rushed forward towards Erza at an incredible speed, almost appearing as a blur.

"You'll have to be faster than that!" Erza exclaimed as she swung her spear forward, unleashing a bolt of lightning towards Blues as he rushed forward, but to her surprise, Blues' speed didn't screw him over, he shifted his body to the side a few inches, just narrowly avoiding the bolt of lightning.

"Like that!?" Blues replied while dense water formed around his fist. "Water Dragon's Punch!" The water dragon's fist flew towards Erza, but she easily avoiding the attack by jumping over Blues and propelling herself high into the air, leaving Blues a bit surprised at her jumping prowess. "Eh!?"

Erza flipped, now pointing her spear towards Blues, a magic seal forming on the tip of her armored spear. "Lightning Cyclotron!" From the magic seal, a plethora of blue lightning bolts shot out, now hurtling towards Blues.

"Tch…" Blues quickly placed his fist into his palm, a ring of water appearing around his feet. "Water Make: Harpoons!" The dragon slayer thrusts his arms forward, creating a blue magic seal with a rain drop in the center, unleashing his own barrage of dense watery harpoons to clash with Erza's Lightning Cyclotron. Blues' power was impressive, as he managed to negate the attack completely. "Heh…Lightning doesn't work on me like that, Titan…" Before Blues could finish, he noticed Erza now coming down with her spear raised above her head, lightning violently dancing around the tip. "GAH!" With the quickness, Blues rolled out of the way, leaving Erza's spear to impact the street, causing a small lightning explosion that caused a crater. "That was close…"

"He's fast…" Erza thought to herself as she looked towards Blues, standing up and gipping her spear with both hands. Lightning once again surged through the spear, but this time she swung it, sending a horizontal beam of lightning towards Blues, covering a wide radius.

Though Blues was fast, he had no choice but to cross his arms, taking the full force of the lightning. He grit his teeth as the slash pushed him back across the street, his heels creating small crevasses in the street to show this. The lightning did tingle him more than it would a normal mage, but he pushed through the pain and uncrossed his arms, causing the slash to disperse after. "My turn!" Water surrounded the dragon slayer's body, a vortex of it forming around his mouth. "Roar!" Blues then threw his head forward, unleashing a large beam of extremely dense water towards Erza that uprooted the street as it traveled. "Of the Water Dragon!"

This was the opening she was waiting for. Erza brought her spear back, and when the roar was close, jabbed it into the roar, stopping it from hitting her. The force of the roar was strong enough to send her sliding back, but she knew she had this match in the bag now. The tip of the spear gathered a large abundance of lightning, and merely discharged it back into the roar, causing the lightning to travel towards Blues now. To make sure that Blues wouldn't be able to escape, she also diverted some of the lightning to the ground, sending a shockwave towards Blues so no matter what he did lightning would strike him. "It's over!"

"She's got this now!" Lucy shouted with a grin.

"Score one for Fairy Tail!" Cynthia clapped her hands together as the lightning almost made it towards Blues.

"Heheh…" A slow smirk appeared on Bacchus' lips at Fairy Tail's excitement; he knew they were all in for a big surprise.

As the lightning neared Blues, he didn't seem to panic. He kept a calm expression, not even bothering to cut off his roar just yet. It seemed as though he was cornered….but then a large smirk appeared on his open lips. He raised his water covered arm into the air just as the lightning struck. It hurt for the first few seconds, but then the lightning all traveled through Blues' water covered arm before discharging into the air, leaving him unharmed after. "Heh…"

Erza's eyes widened as she witnessed Blues use his own water as a conductor to negate her lightning; she never expected a water mage to do such a thing. "H-He diverted it…?" She thought to herself as she stared at Blues.

.

.

"What!?" Cynthia's arms flailed around as Blues left the attack relatively unharmed.

"He rendered the lightning useless…by using his weakness…" Laxus commented while crossing his arms, obviously somewhat impressed by Blues' action.

"You got this now Blues!" Bacchus exclaimed. "That lightning ain't shit now!"

"Come on Erza, that's just a setback!" Natsu hollered at the lacrima screen.

.

.

Tia's eyes widened at Blues' Lightning Nullification, she hadn't expected a move such as this. "He…Nullified the lightning with his own water…If he can do that…then perhaps I can…"

.

.

Erza remained unnerved in the long run. It was just a setback. She pulled her spear back and jabbed it into the ground. "Impressive, Blues…" Erza said while giving a nod.

"Thank you, thank you…" Blues said with a bow and a grin. He prepared to move, but the felt the ground beginning to tremble, activating his motion sickness. "Urgh…" Blues' face turned pale and he fell to his knees, groaning. "W-What the…?"

"But there's always a way to counter…" Erza continued as a magic seal appeared below Blues who was unable to move due to the sickness. "Lightning Tower!"

"Oh piss…." Blues groaned for a second before a tower of lightning consumed him. He let out a yelp of pain while the tower struck. When the tower faded he was on his hands and knees, panting heavily while sparks appeared around him every few seconds. "D-Damn…"

"Blues, get up!" Kuro shouted, trying to warn his partner about the incoming Titania.

"Eh…" Blues looked up, eyes widening as Erza was coming down towards him, lightning spearhead first. He rolled out of the way just barely, and Erza's lightning coated spear slammed into the ground. "I got'cha!" Blues opened his mouth, unleashing a high pressurized stream of boiling hot water from his mouth, consuming Erza as it blew her backwards.

"Erza…" Jellal narrowed his eyes after Erza was struck.

As Erza was pushed back by the powerful stream of water, a heavenly light appeared around her body as she requipped into her Sea Empress Armor, cutting the damage she took by half. Before Blues could finish the attack, she dispersed it herself with her own sword. There were a few burn marks on her body from the scalding hot water, but she ignored the pain from them.

"Oh, that armor…" Blues scoffed as he stood up shakily. "It helps with water attacks, but it's not going to do you much good in the end, heheh…"

"Is that so?" Erza merely inquired as she prepared herself to attack.

"Damn right!" Blues clapped his hands together, creating a blue magic seal under Erza's feet. "Water Dragon's Geyser!"

Erza gasped at how quickly the magic seal appeared. She didn't have time to dodge it, so she took the full force of the scalding hot water that erupted from the ground. She held in any noises of pain during this. After the attack began to come to a halt, she got an idea. "K-Kanso…" Another glow appeared around her body, though it was concealed by the geyser. Erza's requip into her Flight armor beat the geyser to dispersing, so she used her speed to dash off, leaving her location a mystery.

As the geyser vanished, Blues, and the rest of the spectators had a large question mark over their head. "Where'd she go…?" Blues narrowed his eyes as he tried to sniff around for her, is guard up. Erza sped behind Blues, causing him to whip around to see what was behind him. He just missed her, but he knew she was around somewhere. "Tch…trying to use speed against me, huh…?"

"Sonic Thrust!"

"Huh?" Blues turned, hearing Erza's voice behind him. A fatal mistake as Erza sped by him at just at the moment Erza used her momentum to thrust her sword (in a nonfatal fashion) towards Blues, sonic waves emitting from the blade due to her speed. The force of the attack was so powerful that it sent the blue dragon flying back into the nearest building, causing it to collapse on top of him after.

Erza walked over to the debris from the fallen building and began to remove them. Blues was in KO, and Erza merely smiled at the fact that he put up a good fight. "Excellent job, Blues…" Erza bent down and hoisted Blues over her shoulder, and made her way back to Black Phoenix.

.

.

"She won and only took a hit…" Knightwalker tapped her chin. "Her opponent was no slouch…I think I'll wait before giving my final reading on her…"

"It's far too early for that," Hyde replied as he levitated a few feet off the ground, crossing his legs. "But, Titania did an exceptional job, as always. I just hope she gets an opponent who pushes her to her limit…that's the power I want to see…"

"Well if you want I could always go down there and reunited myself with her~" Knight cooed somewhat, a sly, yet dark smirk appearing on her face.

"Now isn't the time for games, Knightwalker…you will have your fun with Scarlet, later, I assure you…" Hyde chuckled after he spoke.

"Mhm…Sure…" Knightwalker merely sighed towards Hyde.

.

.

"Not a bad show by Scarlet at all!" The hooded male clapped his hands a few times. "Came out of that with only a few burn marks. I'm impressed, but I'm sure that wasn't even a warm up for her…"

"I doubt it was…" The female replied. "It was a nice fight to start things off though…I can't wait to see how the other fights are going to be…"

"Neither can I…I hope they're all just as good, if not better than the first one." With a nod, the hooded male threw yet another generic brand snack into his mouth, chewing on it happily and rather loudly.

"E-Etto…you really need to work on your consumption of snacks…" The female replied with a visible sweat drop appearing on her forehead.

"What? These are healthier than the last ones!" The male replied with a somewhat whiny and confused tone, chewing loudly once again on them.

"T-that's not what I…never mind…" The female let out a defeated sigh before looking back at the lacrima screen in front of them.

.

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"Peh, that was a lame battle! We didn't even get to see any real action…!" Jack complained and complained.

"Hush, Jack…this tournament should only get better in terms of action, which means we shouldn't have any problems scouting…" Tia replied.

"Scouting is boring if nothing good happens!" Jack responded with a groan, letting out the heaviest sigh possible after. "That was only the first fight; I expect the rest to be better…"

Tia stopped listening to Jack as she became lost in her own thoughts. "Lightning Nullification…perhaps…"

.

.

"And with that, Fairy Tail's Erza Scarlet will advance into the second round!" Ola wrote into the air, getting a cheer from the Fairy Tail crowd seconds after.

"Nice job, Erza!" Lucy said while patting her scarlet haired friend on the back.

"Excellent work, Erza…" Jellal said while nodding.

"Ah, don't sweat it, we'll still win this!" Bacchus said, giving a nod of encouragement to his other team members. "Wild!"

"FOUR!" The other 3 members exclaimed.

"Did you sense any of that darkness?" Erza asked Jellal while bringing him over to the side.

"No…" Jellal replied while shaking his head. "But it's close…"

"Now, onto our second match!" Ola wrote, gesturing once again to the Lacrima screen overhead. "Black Phoenix's Leon Shi vs. Sabertooth's Sting Eucliffe; following that, Fairy Tail's Gajeel Redfox vs. Black Pheonix's Tristan Gareth, followed by Lamia Scale's Raven vs. Fairy Tail's Cynthia Rose, and the match after that is White Eclipse's Kuro Crane vs. Fairy Tail's Gray Fullbuster."

"We got a lotta action coming up, it seems…" Gray chuckled a bit as he stared down Kuro. They fought almost a year ago during the Fairy Tail vs. White Eclipse tournament. Gray barely pulled off the victory back then, but now he was certain he would win no problem.

"Gray-sama will beat him again!" Juvia exclaimed with her hands at her cheeks, hearts literally flowing from her body.

"You got it, Kuro. He just got lucky last time." Reve said while patting the fire make mage on the back.

"My match is up next? Excellent! I'm ready to take down this Leon guy!" Sting grinned, crouching down to highfive Lector.

"You can do it, Sting-kun!" Lector exclaimed happily.

"Good luck, Sting!" Yukino said with an encouraging nod.

"Gieheh…I get the ace, eh…?" Gajeel grinned over to Tristan, who merely gave a nod as a response.

"You can kick his butt!" Cynthia said with a nod before glancing at her opponent. "Who is this Raven, though…"


	22. Chapter 21

The next few matches were set: Leon vs. Sting, Gajeel vs. Tristan, Kuro vs. Gray, and Cynthia vs. Raven. It was going to be a busy day, but that was to be expected with such a big turnout. Leon and Sting walked out of Black Phoenix and walked to Clover Town square. They both silently agreed to take the square because it was the largest area and they both figured they'd need it for what was going to happen. "I'm excited…I can tell you're strong!" Leon said with his usual kawaii grin.

"I hope you're strong…" Sting said as he slid into an offensive type stance, already preparing to take the offensive. "I'll show you the power of Sabertooth's White Dragon!"

"I won't hold back, Sting!" Leon exclaimed as he entered a stance for both offense and defense.

"Sting-kun can do this!" Lector said with a firm nod. "That other guy has no idea what he's in for."

"I doubt that…" A tall male (over 6 feet) with purple hair said while leaning against some railing. "Your friend Sting doesn't even compare to Leon…"

"Oh yeah!?" Infuriated by the male's words, Lector sprouted his wings and flew forward, but stopped as he got within 5 feet of the male, feeling his demonic presence. Lector backed off quickly after that. "Sting-kun will win…"

"Trinity-san, was that really necessary to scare him like that?" Tristan asked while walking over to Trinity.

"I didn't do anything, he just backed off on his own…it wasn't like I was gonna do anything…" Trinity shrugged while giving a toothy smirk, his fangs sharper than those of a dragon slayer.

"Let's go!" Sting said while charging forward, white energy appearing around his fist as he prepared to make the first move. "White Dragon's Punch!" Sting then threw his fists forward, aiming blows towards Leon's midsection and face to start things off.

"This'll be fun…" Leon grinned as Sting came forward. Since his stance was for both attacking and defending, he easily swayed out of the way of Sting's punches, blocking the ones that were close to hitting him. At the next punch, Leon strafed to the right, now in Sting's blind spot. "Iron Fist of the Acid Dragon! Acid covered Leon's fist, and he threw it directly at Sting's side, landing a direct hit. A sizzling sound came from the impact of acid and skin.

"Tch…!" Sting grit his teeth as he felt the acid burn his skin. He jumped to the side just as Leon prepared to throw another punch, sliding back across the ground a few inches. "Acid, huh…? Okay, this'll be a little more interesting than I thought it would be…" Sting grinned slightly before taking the offensive once again, cupping his hands to his sides as a white sphere formed. "White Dragon's Holy Ray!" Sting threw his hands forward after, unleashing a plethora of holy rays towards Leon.

"Heh…" Leon smirked as he ran forward, acid coating his arms almost in a trail. "Acid Dragon's Swirling Corrosion!" Leon then spun around, using his momentum to pick up speed quickly. Acid formed around Leon in a cocoon, and the holy rays sent by Sting merely bounced off the corrosion created by Leon, though only got through and struck the acid slayer in the chest, causing him to take a step back. "Not bad, Sting…!" Leon exclaimed as he continued to run forward, now engaging the white dragon in close combat, throwing a flurry of acid coated punches and kicks.

"He deflected it…Interesting…" Sting thought to himself as he awaited Leon's strikes. Now, the two slayers were locked in combat, though Sting was at a slight disadvantage because ACID. Whenever Sting blocked a punch, he still took damage because Leon's acid burned his skin. It was a lose-lose for Sting in a way, as he had to go on the offensive and make sure he didn't get hit. His White Dragon's Punch and Leon's Acid fist collided, creating a shockwave that broke the windows of the buildings nearby. The two jumped back, both smirking at each other. "Oi, oi…not bad…"

"I'm just getting started, you know," Leon gave a nod, his smirk turning into an innocent smile. Leon formed to spheres of acid in both of his palms, the spheres growing to the sides of volley balls. "Acid Dragon's Double Corroding Beams!" After this exclamation, Leon threw his arms forward, unleashing two beams of acid that swirled towards Sting, melting the ground they traveled at least a foot over.

"That doesn't look like an attack you want to take head on or even try to defend against…" Rogue commented while keeping his eyes on the lacrima screen.

"White Dragon's…" Sting began as he took a deep breath, white energy gathering inside his mouth. "Breath!" Sting then unleashed this energy, sending a potent beam of white dragon slayer magic to match Leon's Double Corroding Beam. The two attacks met in a stalemate, eventually ending in an explosion that sent them both flying back. A large smoke cloud covered the area now. "Damn…" Sting grunted as he quickly stood up, shaking his head. "Where'd he go…" Sting pointed his nose in the air, sniffing out for any signs of acid. Once he figured it out, he grinned, activating his White Drive to give him an extra boost. With a white aura now surrounding his body, he dashed into the smoke, quickly yet quietly so Leon wouldn't be aware of his presence. "That acid smell…right there!" Sting lunged forward, throwing a White Dragon's Fist to the back of Leon's head, causing the acid dragon to stumble forward.

"Agh...!" Leon grunted as Sting's punch hit him, causing him to stumble forward. He quickly turned on his heel, catching Sting's next attack with his palm, sliding back from the power. "Oh, so you're a third generation too?" A green aura then appeared around Leon's body, illuminating his green eyes. "Acid Drive…"

"He's a third generation too…?" Rogue raised a brow in interest.

"Sting, get out of there…" Yukino whispered.

"Third generation…" Sting mumbled to himself as he raised his free hand up, aiming another punch at Leon, but Leon caught this one as well. "Crap…"

"Acid Palm…" Leon said in a whisper. After Leon said this, an explosion of acid occurred from his palms, severely burning Sting's arms as a result. The force was so great Leon was forced to release Sting as he tumbled across the ground, smoke coming from his arms.

"Sting-kun…!" Lector gasped.

"Whoa…" Natsu's eyes widened at Leon's move, a rush of excitement flowing through his body as he watched the fight.

"D-Damn…" Sting pushed himself up slowly, feeling it difficult to near impossible to move his arms. "Alright…" Sting clenched his fist, bringing a burned arm back, gathering a large amount of white dragon slayer magic in his palm. "Secret Art: Holy Nova!" Sting threw his palm forward, (wincing while doing so) and unleashed an enormous burst of white energy towards Leon, cleaving through the ground it traveled and taking up an exceptionally large radius.

"S-Sugoi!" Leon grinned, his eye lighting up as the Holy Nova tore through the streets and parts of buildings just to reach him. Leon then crossed his arms, digging his heels into the ground. Impact was made, and Leon held strong against the Holy Nova for a minute or two before he was consumed by it, traveling with the blast through a nearby building.

"Leon-san…!" Tristan exclaimed with worry.

"…Huh…" Trinity blinked a few times at Sting's impressive power.

"That's the power of the White Dragon…!" Sting said while panting heavily, letting his arms drop to his sides.

A few moments passed, and Leon crawled his way out of the rubble, quite damaged from the attack, but he still stood. "Wow…you're really strong, Sting!" Leon shouted to the white dragon with a large grin.

"E-Eh!?" Sting's eyes shot open as Leon began to walk towards him. "He's still standing, even after an attack like that…?"

"Now it's my turn!" Leon grinned, sucking in a deep breath, acid swirling around his mouth until it formed into a green sphere. "Acid Dragon's…"

"Sting, move….!" Yukino shouted.

"It's too late…" Trinity said as a smirk tugged at his lips.

"Wave!" Leon threw his head forward, unleashing pure destruction in the form of acid towards Sting. The large wave literally melted the streets and buildings nearby just from its sheer power.

"White Dragon's Roar!" Sting exclaimed with hurry, unleashing his signature roar to clash with the wave of acid. It was a struggle for both parties, but eventually the sheer power of Leon's attack powered through Sting's, and struck the white dragon, creating a green explosion.

"STING!" Rogue and Yukino shouted in unison as they stared at the screen, awaiting the green smoke cloud to disperse. When it did, it revealed that Sting was defeated.

"And Leon moves to the second round," Ola wrote in the air.

"N-No way…" Orga's jaw dropped at the sight of their defeated master and comrade.

"He beat Sting…" Natsu whispered to himself in amazement…now, a smirk appeared on his lips. "Now I really can't wait to fight that guy…"

.

.

After Sting was carried into the infirmary, it was now time for Gajeel and Tristan to fight. The town was large, so they didn't have any trouble finding a decent place to start off. Tristan gave a respectful nod to Gajeel before they began. "Gajeel-san, I hope you give me a good match."

"Gieheh…" Gajeel merely grinned as he slid into a stance, not wasting any time as a green magic seal appeared under his feet, his body now coated with his infamous defensive iron scales. "Don't worry; I'll make this good alright…"

"Starting off with the Iron Scales, I see…" Tristan gave a nod, placing his fist into his palm. "Steel Make: Knight's Armor!" After Tristan exclaimed this, a magic seal appeared under his feet, covering his body head to toe with his own custom made knight's armor. "Steel Make: Sword and Shield!" He repeated the action again, completing the armor set with a full sword and shield.

"GO GAJEEL-KUN!" Juvia exclaimed while waving her arms frantically, cheering on her fellow and closest guild mate.

"Gajeel's got this no problem…" Patherlily gave a firm nod after.

"He is going against their SS class though…I can't help but feel a little worried…" Levy let out a sigh while looking to the lacrima screen.

"I think he's got this one…" Gildarts said while waving a hand.

"Sensei can pull this one off…" Selene gave a firm nod.

"…Did you just call him sensei?" Luke and Waiston blinked a few times.

"Oh, I wish these fights would hurry up…" Cynthia grumbled as she paced back and forth. "I wanna get my fight in already…"

Gajeel glanced at Tristan's steel, a grin forming on his face as he thought of tasting it. "Hmm…That iron looks pretty good; I can't wait to have a bite…giehe…" Gajeel then made the first move, sprinting forward as his arm changed into an iron lance. "Iron Dragon's Lance!" Gajeel then stopped, pointing his lance towards Tristan, a green magic seal appearing before it. "Demon Logs!" From the circle, a large amount of iron lances shot out, now hurtling towards Tristan.

"This should be an interesting battle…" Tristan thought to himself as he brought his shield up, allowing it to take a majority of the incoming lances. He found that as he defended he was sliding back some, which wasn't good. He quickly jumped to the side, and clapped his hands together, using his teleportation magic. He reappeared in the air a few feet above Gajeel, his sword held high.

Gajeel raised a brow as Tristan suddenly vanished. "Where'd he…" Gajeel looked around before looking up, noticing that Tristan was just seconds away from slashing. With quick thinking, Gajeel morphed his iron lance arm into his Iron Dragon's sword, swinging it as Tristan swung; the two blades of iron collided and sparks immediately flew from collision. The two iron users jumped back. "Gonna take a lot more than a few vanishing acts to get me…"

"I expected nothing less…" Tristan nodded before running forward, his shield extended first to defend against anything Gajeel might throw at him. When Tristan got close, he then made a move with his shield aiming to throw Gajeel off guard, following up with a forward slice after.

Gajeel was taken off guard slightly by the shield attack. This did leave the iron slayer open, but he managed to recover just in time to avoid the majority of Tristan's slash, though it did leave a mark on his iron scales. Now, Gajeel's Iron Dragon's Sword began to rotate like a chainsaw, giving it the cutting edge. Gajeel swung only for Tristan to bring up his shield, but the chain-saw effect of the blade easily managed to cut through the shield, leaving Tristan surprised. "Giehe!" Gajeel chuckled before entering fierce swordplay with Tristan, who was now in dangerous territory.

"I can handle myself with a sword just fine…but his sword can cut through mine if I'm not careful…" Tristan thought to himself as he played it safe and avoided Gajeel's attacks. He couldn't teleport because he didn't have the chance to, so he just waited for his opening. During the dodging, he came up with an idea. He threw his sword to the side and caught Gajeel's spinning blade in his hands, the sharp, jagged edges grinding against his armor.

"Think that'll stop me…?!" Gajeel grunted as he put more of his strength into the attack, trying to take Tristan down right then and there.

"You'll have to…do better than that…!" Tristan grunted before using his brute strength to hurl Gajeel over to the side. "Steel Make: Lance!" A gray magic seal appeared before Tristan, firing off a decent amount of steel lances towards Gajeel.

Gajeel flipped, catching himself once thrown. He slid across the ground, now covering up against the incoming steel lances. He expected them to hurt, but he wasn't prepared for how powerful they really are. Each lance that struck his iron scales began to crack them a bit, leaving obvious marks. Gajeel slid back after the assault was over, wincing slightly.

"That's some powerful steel…" Levy said while biting her lip nervously.

"Doesn't matter how strong the steel is…Gajeel can still eat it…" Lily said as he watched the fight intensely.

"This Tristan guy ain't too bad…" Luke said while keeping his eyes on the fight.

"Sensei…" Selene muttered while watching Gajeel's movements.

Gajeel dashed forward, now aiming to engage the opposing mage of steel in close combat. "Iron Dragon's Hard Fist!" Gajeel threw his fists forward, entering a short burst of about 40 punches with his power amplified by the iron scales.

"Tch…" Tristan grunted as Gajeel forced him to enter close combat. This wasn't his strong suit, but he could hold himself in close combat rather well, he thought. Most of Gajeel's punches got to Tristan, creating dents in his custom made armor. The other hits that didn't make it were blocked or avoided. Gajeel threw one punch that knocked Tristan's helmet clean off, much to his surprise. Now, on the next punch, Tristan ducked, but it seemed as though Gajeel saw this coming.

"Iron Dragon's Club!" Gajeel raised his leg, morphing it into an iron pole that struck Tristan's gut, pushing him away as the pole extended.

Tristan slid across the street as the pole slammed into his armored gut. After a few seconds, the attack ended and Gajeel began to retract his leg; this was the opening Tristan was looking for. "Steel Make: Ballista! Archery Battalion!" Several steel ballistae appeared in front of Tristan, all holding fifty steel arrows each, immediately firing them all off once.

"Tch..!" Gajeel sucked in a deep breath, gathering a vortex of gray metal around his mouth as he aimed his head towards the incoming arrows. "Roar of the Iron Dragon!" Gajeel threw his up, unleashing a large gray vortex into the sky. The gray vortex consumed a good portion of the arrows, but wasn't even close to getting them all. The steel arrows rained down on Gajeel, creating a smoke cloud during the impact.

"Gajeel…!" Levy squeaked.

"Gajeel-kun…" Juvia placed her hands over her mouth.

Rogue remained silent while watching the smoke cloud disperse. "…"

When the smoke cloud cleared, Gajeel was still in his iron scales, but they were heavily cracked, and there was blood mixing with the iron from his wounds. "G-Gieheh…is that…all you've got…?" Gajeel said as he looked forward, but Tristan wasn't there anymore. "Wha…Oh not this shit again…" Gajeel looked up as Tristan repeated the same move from before, coming down with his steel sword. This time, Gajeel didn't move; he instead opened his mouth, catching the blade between his teeth…and then? He chomped down, eating the sword from Tristan's hands, causing the Black Phoenix SS class to jumped back, not too surprised that Gajeel ate it, but more surprised at the fact he ate it from his hands. "Not bad…!" Gajeel grinned as a green magic seal appeared under him, replenishing his iron scales. Now, a black magic seal appeared on his right hand, an accumulation of iron shards and shadow magic forming. "Now it's my turn! Erupting Claw of the Iron Shadow Dragon!" The accumulation exploded, consuming both Gajeel and Tristan in the blast, blowing them both back.

"W-What was that!?" Cynthia asked as the explosion took up about 30% of Clover Town.

"That's a new one…" Lily merely replied after the explosion.

Gajeel was still in his iron scales, but it was obvious that his body was cut, bruised, and bloodied after such an attack like that. Black Steel was now reduced to an injured mage who could barely stand at this point. But he grinned. Why? Because off in the distance he could see Tristan was just about in the same position, his armor destroyed and his body cut and bruised from the attack. "Gieheh…" The shadows of nearby buildings began to wrap around Gajeel as he entered his Iron Shadow Mode, preparing to finish this. "Roar of the Iron Shadow Dragon!" Gajeel threw his head forward, unleashing the powerful roar towards Tristan.

"Steel Make…" Tristan said while placing his fist into his palm. "Fortress Walls!" Ten walls of steel appeared before Tristan, each wall about 10 feet thick. 150 ft of steel in total; the ultimate defensive technique for Tristan. Gajeel's roar slammed through the first 3 walls, but once it got to the fourth, it was just unable to destroy it. "Steel Make: Morning Star!" Now a spiked mace appeared in Tristan's hands, and he used his teleportation to appear behind Gajeel, swinging the morning star at the back of his head. A direct hit; Gajeel's eyes widened for a second before his iron scales and shadows dispersed, and he hit the ground unconscious.

"He lost…!" Levy's jaw dropped.

"No way…" Selene's eyes widened slightly at Gajeel's defeat.

"I knew Tristan-senpai would win!" Leon exclaimed while throwing his hands into the air.

"My, my…he's certainly a strong one…" Tayakata said while giving a nod.

"Interesting…" Sidney thought to himself.

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"Hm…not a bad performance by Black Steel…" The hooded male said with a nod. "He performed rather well against an ace…"

"I thought he had it for a second…but I didn't expect those Fortress Walls…" The female said with a slight sigh.

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"And Tristan moves onto the second round!" Ola wrote into the air, a smile appearing on her face from the victory of her phoenix.

"He beat Gajeel…I want a shot at this guy too…" Natsu said as he could barely contain himself by sitting.


	23. Chapter 22:

A line of fire and ice explosions ran through a large portion of Clover Town. Kuro and Gray were a few yards away from each other; both unleashing fire and ice make spells upon each other. "Fire Make: Spears!" A red magic seal appeared before Kuro, unleashing a barrage of flaming spears in Gray's direction.

"Ice Make: Lance!" Gray exclaimed as a blue magic seal appeared before him, unleashing a plethora of ice lances to clash with Kuro's flaming spears, creating yet another explosion.

.

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"Those two are really going at it…!" Lucy exclaimed once seeing the numerous amount of explosions around the Town.

"You're telling me…" Cynthia commented. "I guess neither of them really want to lose this time around, eh?"

"Come on, Kuro!" Waiston exclaimed. "You got this!"

"Gray-sama's got this!" Juvia shouted back to Waiston's shouting, their eyes locking as comical lightning appeared between their heated glares.

"This isn't even a competition, Kuro has this hands down!" Waiston nodded firmly.

"I agree with Waiston," Saeko said while giving a nod. "Kuro will win!"

"If Gray doesn't wish to embarrass the good name of his teacher Ur then he will win…" Lyon commented.

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Gray jumped into the air, his fist meeting his palm once more. "Ice Make: Bringer!" The heavy artillery was coming out now; two large, curved blades of ice appeared in Gray's hands. He lunged towards Kuro, preparing to slash the blades in an X pattern.

"Fire Make: Swords!" Kuro exclaimed once seeing the large blades of ice now. Two flaming swords appeared in Kuro's hands and he met Gray halfway, their swords clashing in the air, creating a shockwave upon collision. The two jumped back, landing on top of two buildings a few feet apart. Kuro slammed his fist into his palm once more as his swords vanished. "Fire Make: Swords Dance!" A red magic seal appeared above Gray, unleashing a rain of flaming swords.

"Gah…" Gray cried out as the swords rained down on him. He fought through the pain and placed his fist into his palm once more, creating a bow with three arrows held back on the string. "Ice Make: Super Freeze Arrow…!" Gray released the arrows simultaneously, watching as they all hurtled towards Kuro.

"Agh…" Kuro had no time to dodge because the arrows were coming in so quickly. Each arrow struck him powerfully, sending him falling off the building and into the ground, close to unconsciousness. Before he fell unconscious however, he placed a palm on the ground, creating a dark red magic seal under Gray's feet. "Hell's Eruption…"

"Huh…?" Gray looked down, his eyes widening instantly as he realized what was about to happen. "Ice Make: Cocoon!" Ice protectively surrounded Gray, but it was no match for the Hell Flames that consumed his person. He let out a scream of agony as the building he was on reduced to nothing. Gray and Kuro were both unconscious, the first draw of the tournament.

"It's a draw…" Ola wrote in the air, a little surprised by the outcome herself.

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"So far things are moving along just fine…" Hyde nodded. "Though, some of these matches could be a little more entertaining…Though I am finding a few interesting things…"

"Things like…" Knightwalker asked, hoping Hyde would respond with a straight answer instead of one of his usually cryptic sentences, but instead he just didn't answer. "…Tch…"

.

.

"NOW it's my turn!" Cynthia hopped up and down as she looked around for her opponent. "Where is he?"

"Over here," A male with slightly spiky dark hair, dark eyes, wore red and black vest, black pants and shoes walked forward. "I'm Raven, your opponent. I've heard a lot about you.

"Oh really?" Cynthia blinked a few times. "Because I know absolutely nothing about you."

"That's fine with me…I think…" Raven shook his head before turning off to walk into Clover Town. "Anyway, it's our turn to battle, so let's do so."

"Right behind you!" Cynthia happily shouted as she followed behind Raven.

"Good luck, Cynthia!" Wendy exclaimed while waving to her dearest friend.

.

.

"Allow me…" Raven said as he pulled a bow from behind his back, immediately aiming it towards Cynthia; he pulled the string back, forming a powerful wind arrow. "The Wind's Howl!" Raven unleashed the string, sending the wind arrow hurtling towards the young fire slayer.

"Wow that's coming in pretty fast…" Cynthia made a quick roll to the left, looking over her shoulder to see what the arrow would do upon collision. It leveled a building and the one behind it. No big deal. "Aye…" She turned, only to spot three more wind arrows coming in her direction. She placed her hands on the ground, creating a red magic seal. "Omega Fire Dragon's Line!" After exclaiming this, a red line appeared from the magic circle, cleaving through the ground, and the wind arrows as it made its way towards Raven.

"Oi…I got a tough one right off the bat…fun…" Raven groaned to himself as he leapt to the side, allowing the line of fire to fly right past him. He took aim once again, this time dark arrows forming on his string. "Crime!"

"Too slow"! Cynthia exclaimed as she ran forward, red fire trailing along her arms. She swayed her body to the left, avoiding the incoming arrows, though they did manage to graze her arm. "Omega Fire Dragon's Wing Slash!" Cynthia sped by Raven, blowing him back a bit after slashing him with her wings of fire. Not wanting to let up, she turned on her heel quickly, aiming a spinning roundhouse to Raven's head, which connected, causing him to stagger back.

"Come on, Raven! You can do it!" Chelia cheered.

Raven prepared yet another large arrow, but he instead aimed his bow upwards, releasing it into the sky. "Azure Heavens!" The traveling wind arrow now came down, breaking apart into multiple, smaller arrows that rained down towards Cynthia.

"Eek…!" Cynthia turned on her heel, but wouldn't you know it, she almost tripped, leaving her completely open for the wind arrows that rained down on her, causing her to let out a small squeal of pain. She shook off the pain and jumped back, clicking her heels to the ground. "Ouch…that hurt…"

"Fury Burst!" Raven now exclaimed as his magical energy quickly rose; he was going for the quick finish because he knew what would happen if the battle started to drag on. He aimed four arrows, all radiating a different color aura (red, blue, green, and yellow) infused with fire, ice, wind, and lightning respectively. He unleashed the four arrows in a line, their pressure causing the streets to cave in.

"A-Ah!" Cynthia crossed her arms at the incoming arrows, not seeing many actions but to defend. The arrows hit, hard; causing her to slide back across the street a few feet with each hit. When the fire arrow came towards her, she grinned, allowing it to strike, but she quickly inhaled the flames off it before any real damage could be done.

"Crap…I forgot Dragon Slayers…" Raven started with a gulp.

"Whoa!" Cynthia grinned as her flames flared higher around her body. "I needed that!" She then took in a deep breath, allowing a vortex of red flames to form around her mouth. "Omega Fire Dragon's Roar!" Cynthia lurched forward, unleashing a large funnel of red fire towards Raven.

"Gah…!" Raven prepared to send an arrow to slice through the roar, but even with his speed he wasn't fast enough to fire, so the funnel consumed him. He let out a yelp of pain while the fire burned his clothing and skin. After the roar was over, he was hunched over, panting from taking such a hit head on. "My turn…" Raven swiped his hand, creating a green magic circle under Cynthia's feet. "I'll blow you away…Havoc Gale!"

"Eh!?" Cynthia looked down, but she didn't have any time to react to the cyclone that suddenly appeared around her, lifting her into the air before ruthlessly cutting her just due to the speed it gave off.

"Cynthia…!" Wendy's eyes widened as Cynthia was rendered helpless in the hurricane.

"Hold on…" Erza said while eying the hurricane. "Something isn't right about this…"

Raven was also slowly being dragged into the hurricane; he had little control over this attack, and that was just placing it where he wanted. It wasn't long before Raven too was sucked into the unforgiving twister. "GAH!"

"He can't control that, can he…" Erza raised a brow as she spoke.

"Well this isn't going to end very well…" Lyon coughed.

And right Lyon was. The hurricane became unstable to the point where it exploded, sending both combatants flying into the nearest building. Cynthia groaned as she struggled to stand up, panting somewhat as her body was now covered in cuts from the harsh winds. "Oowie.."

"Damn…" Raven groaned as he brought himself up slowly, staggering around.

"Oh…! We're still fighting…" Cynthia ignited her right hand, throwing it towards Raven's face. "Iron Fist of the Omega Fire Dragon!"

"Wha-" Before Raven could react, Cynthia's fist met with his face, causing him to slide across the ground on his back in KO.

"I win!" Cynthia exclaimed as she jumped up and down, ignoring the pain in her injuries. She was rather durable so they were pretty much nothing to her after a certain point.

"He lost…" Chelia pouted.

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"Mhm…" Hyde now had a serious look of interest on his face after witnessing Cynthia's fight. "She's come a long way from the scared little girl in the lab…"

"I don't understand your and Aiden's obsession with that little girl…" Knightwalker sighed as she used a cloth to clean off her spear. "She has great power, so what…?"

"It's not just that, Knightwalker dear…" Hyde stood upright, a serious expression actually appearing on his face as Cynthia became the main topic. "That girl is many things…But she is primarily a weapon who is currently in failsafe mode. Long story short, in order to prevent her from using her full power on her own, Aiden turned the lacrima into a bomb, which would explode and wipe out this entire country. However, since he was foiled that lacrima has malfunctioned…so there is no clue when she could detonate…"

"And why did Aiden think this was a good idea?" Knightwalker merely sighed. "It sounded like he was afraid his own creation turning on him…I guess even someone like him needs a way out…"

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.

"Hmm….." The hooded male stared intently at Cynthia, unsure what to think of her at this point. "Interesting…"

"You sound conflicted…" The female partner said while tilting her head.

"I'm thinking about something…She's strong, there's no denying that…just…hm…" The male thought while once again chewing on generic brand snacks rather loudly, causing a heavy, comical sigh to escape the lips of his partner.

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"Bah!" Jack kicked the outside wall in frustration. "Boring! We can't get anything with short matches like these!"

"The winners are the ones we should be concerned about in the first place, Jack…" Tia said in attempt to calm her temperamental brother down. "More importantly, we should be concerned with the S classes and SS classes fighting…"

"Whatever…" Jack grunted.

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Meredy and Ultear were somewhere a little far off from Clover Town; the two were watching the tournament from Ultear's sphere. "So far this is turning out okay…" Ultear said while watching the matches. "I don't know if Jellal has found what he's looking for yet…"

"Should we check in on him?" Meredy asked while looking towards Ultear.

"No, not yet…" Ultear replied while shaking her head. "I don't want to take the chance in jeopardizing his identity just yet…For now, all we should do is just watch quietly…though if we find anything we shouldn't hesitate to tell him."

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"You did very well…" Jellal nodded towards Cynthia after she came back in from her match.

"Thank you Je-..I mean Mystogan…! Hahahaha…." A sweat drop appeared on her head as she just narrowly avoided the revelation of Jellal's identity.

"Sssh….!" Erza clamped her hand over Cynthia's mouth to keep her from speaking.

Jellal blinked a few times, quickly looking around to see if anyone heard her. "Is she always this loud…?"

"MMM!" Cynthia huffed, taking offense to that statement.

"Not always…" Erza replied with a nervous smile.

"Hmph…" Cynthia scoffed into Erza's hand.

"I wonder who I'll be up against…" Lucy wondered as she glanced at the lacrima screen.

"It looks like they're about to post the next few matches…" Laxus said while nudging his head up to the lacrima screen, and he was right. The next few matches were: Mystogan vs. Trinity, Tayakata vs. Laxus, Kagura vs. Selene, and Natsu vs. Waiston. "Hm…" Laxus seemed a little disappointed with his matchup, he clearly wanted a challenge and didn't think Tayakata would give him one.

"Hmm…That's the diamond user if I remember correctly…" Kagura said to herself as she took a quick glance towards Selene.

"Trinity, hm…?" Jellal looked over towards the tall male, raising a brow. Something about Trinity didn't seem right, but it seemed as though he was going to figure out in a little bit. "Shall we?"

"Of course…" Trinity gave a nod, crossing his arms as he walked out of Black Phoenix to Clover Town, Jellal following after him.

A rather short girl with long black hair, light brown eyes, a black blouse and long black pants waved Trinity out; this was Lucina of Black Phoenix. "Kick his butt, Trin!"

"Oi…" A serious expression appeared over Natsu's face as Jellal and Trinity left. "That guy smells kinda weird…also king of familiar…but I can't put my finger on it…"

"What do you mean, Natsu…?" Lucy and Erza asked, turning their head to the puzzled dragon slayer.

"I don't know…" Natsu replied.

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"Wait…" Ultear's eyes narrowed as she eyed Trinity, who stood across from Jellal. "Something's not right here…"

"What's wrong, UI…?" Meredy asked as a worried expression appeared on her face, glancing from orb to Ultear.

"Jellal's opponent…I don't know what's up with him, but it's not good, not good at all…" Ultear replied.

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"O-Oi…!" Knightwalker's eyes shot open attentively as she noticed who she believed to be Mystogan walking into a section of town to face Trinity. "That can't be…!"

"Hm…?" Hyde's eyes narrowed as he observed "Msytogan". "Well, well…now isn't that interesting…"

.

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Jellal could sense it too as he grabbed a stave from behind his back, holding it at his side. He could sense a type of darkness from Trinity but it wasn't the darkness he was after. The two were completely different though, Trinity's bearing a strong resemblance to the darkness that resided in the depths of hell. "…Who are you…?" Jellal asked in a serious tone.

"Trinity, of course…" The male replied while a dark purple aura surrounded his body. "The Poison Demon of Black Phoenix…"


	24. Chapter 23

"Poison…Demon…?" Jellal questioned Trinity while preparing to make a move. "So, you're not human…?"

"I thought that would be obvious…" Trinity replied while walking in circles around Jellal. "I'm also the Poison Demon slayer, if you wanted to know that much…"

"Interesting…" Jellal said while he began to walk in a circle along with Trinity.

"We need to get Jellal out of there before things get really bad…" Ultear said while biting her lip nervously.

The match begun, started by Trinity, who with his impressive speed appeared in front of Jellal with pitch black poison coating his fists. He swung at Jellal, who just narrowly dodged by swaying to the side. "That poison…!" Jellal thought to himself as he continued to sway away from Trinity's punches, not even daring to make a physical counter just yet. Eventually, Jellal found an opening and ducked, spinning for a quick leg sweep, successfully knocking Trinity off his feet. Trinity recovered with a flip, but Jellal pointed the stave in his hand forward, shooting off a blast of energy that struck Trinity square in the chest, causing the poison demon to slide back across the ground a few feet.

"Hm…" Trinity looked down at his chest, noticing the hole in his clothing and the mark on it. "Ah…the rush of fighting someone new…not knowing their abilities…" Trinity then smirked and sucked in a deep breath, pitch black poison swirling around his mouth. "Poison Demon's Screech!" Trinity threw his head forward, unleashing a torrent of pitch black poison towards Jellal. The poison literally melted the street as it flew through the air.

"Meteor…!" Jellal quickly exclaimed, a golden light appearing around his body which granted him the speed to evade the incoming poison by flying off to the side. The poison struck through a building, completely corroding the structure before the building collapsed. "What power…"

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"W-What the hell…?" Gray's jaw dropped as the building eventually corroded into nothing.

"That's some serious poison right there…" Cygnus said while raising a brow. "I've never seen poison like that before…I didn't even know that kind of poison existed…"

"Trinity is a demon slayer, so what did you expect to see?" Lucina said towards Cygnus in a rather condescending tone. "He's got this in the bag…and that's not me just being cocky, I'm being realistic here. That poison is extremely dangerous, one touch and I doubt that masked guy will be able to continue…"

Lucina's words only made Erza's worry for the bluenette increase. "Jellal…" She muttered under her breath.

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Knightwalker was in a fit, waving her spear around in frustration. "What I want to know is why he is in Earthland!? Didn't you destroy the Anima Machine to the point of no repair!?" She yelled at Hyde, who found it hard to keep his calm composure under all the yelling.

"Yes, I did do that…" Hyde replied while groaning somewhat. "I don't understand it myself, but let's keep watching…There may be some clues in this battle…you can tell a lot about a person by the way they move in battle…"

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"You're not getting away…" Trinity shouted while running towards Jellal, the deadly substance forming on his arms and legs this time. The demon threw a flurry of poison coated punches and kicks towards Jellal who barely managed to dodge.

"This is getting dangerous…" Jellal thought to himself as he constantly stepped back to avoid the poisonous attacks.

"Okay, that's it…" Ultear said while standing up, pulling out a jar of chili peppers. "We're pulling him out of this match. Meredy, make a link."

"D-do we have to use the peppers again…?" Meredy said as comical tears ran down her face, recalling the last time they had to pull Jellal from a match abruptly.

"We don't have time weigh choices!" Ultear replied.

"R-Right!" Meredy nodded. "He needs to get more space before I can do anything…"

Jellal flew up into the air with the use of Meteor, placing his arms forward as a golden magic seal appeared before him. "Heavenly Beams!" From the magic seal, multiple beams of Heavenly Body Magic shot out towards Trinity, an attempt to separate the two.

"Not so fast!" Trinity exclaimed while holding his hands like a gun, forming black poison on the tip of his fingers. "Poison Demon's Bullet." Bang, bang, bang; Trinity shot forth multiple bullets of his poison to match the incoming beams. Each collision created a yellow and blackish-purple smoke cloud, restricting sight.

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"Oh…Now I see what's going on here…" Hyde said as a smirk appeared on his face.

"What? What's going on?" Knightwalker asked while impatiently tapping her foot.

"That is not the Mystogan you know…that is in fact his Earthland counterpart, Jellal Fernandes posing as him…" Hyde replied. "The Heavenly Body magic makes it clear…though, I'm curious as to why he's here…"

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.

"Now, Meredy!" Ultear shouted.

"Right!" Meredy nodded, immediately creating a Sensory Link between herself and Jellal, dreading what was about to come next.

"I'm in the clear…" Jellal thought as he hovered above the smoke cloud, scanning the area for Trinity. In the next second, he felt the familiar feeling of a sense link implanted on him, and he knew what was coming next…but it wasn't what he was expecting. Trinity landed a poison infused axe-kick on Jellal's back, sending the heavenly body mage hurtling towards the ground.

"AHHH!" Meredy screamed out as she felt what Jellal did, immediately cutting off the link after because the pain was unbearable.

"Meredy…!?" Ultear glanced at the orb, narrowing her eyes as she saw Jellal lying on the floor with a hole in the back of his clothing, black poison now on his back. "Oh no…"

"Damn…" Jellal groaned as he stood up, wincing as he felt the poison invading his system. "I'll have to make this quick then…" He then flew back into the air, spotting Trinity on the ground, looking up.

"It appears this match isn't going to be as long as I thought…" Trinity smirked slightly as the demon inside of him began to come out, the rush of battle being the cause. Before Trinity could take another step, the five staves on Jellal's back hit the ground around Trinity, creating a circle around him. "What the…?" The staves shimmered brightly for a second, creating a large magic seal above Trinity, and a smaller second seal after that above it. This continued for about three more seals until there was a total of five floating over Trinity.

"Five Layered Magic Circle: Sacred Song!" Jellal shouted at the top of his lungs. A large beam of magic ran through each magic seal, starting from the top and increased in speed and power every time it passed through another seal. Eventually, the attack hit its target, creating a large explosion that created a flash of light.

When the light cleared, Trinity was heavily bruised and damaged from the attack, but he was still standing, showing no signs of exhaustion. "…Not bad…"

"He's still standing…?!" Jellal's eyes widened before he winced, feeling the poison starting to get to him rather quickly now.

Trinity took a deep breath, calming the demon that was about to release itself. "The poison will spread through you quickly…I don't suggest you keep fighting…"

"Is there a cure…?" Jellal asked with his eyes narrowing.

"Of course…" Trinity pulled out a vial and tossed it over to Jellal. "Just drink that, and you'll be fine."

Jellal nodded, drinking what was in the vial. The poison faded away from his skin after. "Thank you…" Shortly after that…he began laughing uncontrollably, rolling around on the floor. This brought a weird look from everyone who was watching.

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"…What's happening." Cynthia asked as she watched Jellal rolling on the floor laughing his ass off.

"I don't know…" Wendy replied while giving a blank stare at the screen. "I feel like this has happened before though."

"Uh…Is he okay…?" Ola wrote in the air while giving the most confused look ever.

"Okay is not the word to use here…" Tayakata said while rubbing the back of her head.

Jack and even Tia couldn't help letting a shocked and confused expression takeover their faces. Tia blinked rapidly, trying to decipher Mystogan's problem. "I…I don't understand what's happening here…"

"He's having a laugh…?" Jack suggested.

The hooded male and his partner just stared in awe at Mystogan's laughing, neither having anything to say about it. Just…awestruck silence. "…"

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Ultear was tickling Meredy to the point where she was practically crying, glancing over at the sphere to notice that Jellal was pretty much in KO at this point. "Oh, it's over…?"

Meredy caught her breath after Ultear finished tickling her, letting out a heavy sigh after. "I was trying to tell you that it was over before you started…!"

"…Oops?"

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"…I guess Trinity wins?" Ola wrote in the air, still having a befuddled expression.

"That was a little…anticlimactic if I do say so myself…" Luke blinked a few times.

"How embarrassing to lose a fight like that…" Reve chuckled in a condescending manner towards Fairy Tail.

"Laugh while ya can, Gunslinger…" Laxus said while taking a step forward. "I'll be the one laughing once I finish moppin' the floor with your other S class."

"HA!" All of White Eclipse seemed to erupt in laughter at Laxus' confident statement.

"I didn't know you were a comedian…" Tayakata said while chuckling a bit.

"The joke's starting, I'll be sure to give you the punchline when it's over. It'll shock ya…" Laxus replied while brushing off the doubt White Eclipse gave him.

"Laxus has this hands down," Freed nodded firmly.

"Well then, let's see if you can put your money where your mouth is…" Taya merely gave a nod towards Laxus before turning on her heels and walking out.

"I'll make this quick…" Laxus scoffed while following Taya out.

"This is gonna get messy I can tell…" Lucy said while watching the two S classes walk out.

"Laxus has this!" Natsu practically shouted at the top of his lung. "If he doesn't I'll be sure to kick his ass!"

"Taya's got this no problem!" Nami gave a firm nod, placing the upmost faith in her elder sister.

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"Tayakata…" Tia muttered as she watched the S class of White Eclipse take a position across from Laxus.

"What's up with her? Someone we should be worried about?" Jack asked.

"Yes…" Tia nodded almost immediately. "We didn't get to see much of her abilities when she was held captive along with those others, but she gives off the same feeling Heartless does…"

"So…you mean she's…" Jack started.

"That's right…she's not human…"

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"Sorry, but I ain't one for formalities…" Laxus stated as he began to stretch, loosening up his muscles.

"You don't look like the gentlemanly type, anyway…" Taya replied while throwing off her coat, giving her neck a roll.

"Cute…" Laxus shrugged before electricity began to spark around his body. In the next second, he popped his jaw open, unleashing a Lightning Dragon's Roar towards Tayakata without warning.

"Hmph…" A small smirk appeared on Taya's lips as she took a step forward before gracefully leaping out of the way, sliding across the already beaten down street. From her abdomen, a vector appeared and launched towards Laxus, striking him square in the chest, causing the S Class lightning dragon to take a step back.

"Where the hell did that come from…?" Laxus raised a brow before shaking it off, activating his Lightning Body Spell to morph into a bolt of lightning, appearing in the sky within seconds. Laxus placed his hands forward, generating a decent amount of electricity before discharging it all in the form of lightning spheres, firing off these spheres one by one like bullets.

Taya was quick, and she could move in heels, which was a little surprise. She swayed from side to side, avoiding the Lightning Bullets sent by Laxus. Each bullet that failed to his Tayakata hit the ground in an electrical explosion. One bullet got lucky and struck her dead in the chest, causing her to slide back, but she quickly caught herself, not too damaged by the attack. "Hm…"

Laxus now used his descend to an advantage, cupping his hands over his head while electricity violently sparked around them; when he was close to Taya he swung them down, aiming for her skull. "Jaw of the Lightning Dragon!"

"Not so fast…" Taya whispered while bringing her hand up, creating about three vectors to protect herself from the attack. Though it was blocked the force caused Taya's knees to buckle slightly. Eventually, she pushed Laxus away and sent these three same vectors forward, aiming them towards Laxus.

Once pushed away, Laxus activated his Lightning Body spell once again, zipping around the incoming vectors and appeared behind Taya, his sparking leg thrown at her side. A direct hit, Taya stumbled off to the side; Laxus had this now. He pulled his arm back, but he wasn't expecting a vector to protrude from her back, which stopped his arm before he could start his attack. "Tch…" No problem, he could just use his other arm…nope, she grabbed that one too.

"Try again…" Taya replied as she used her vectors to flip Laxus over her and slam him into the ground. Before she could do much else Laxus sent a shock through the vectors to her, causing her to take a few steps back, releasing her grip on him. With the opening, Laxus followed up with a roundhouse to Taya's side, following up with a powerful uppcercut, the power sending Taya flying off the ground a few feet and hitting the ground on her back.

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"He's got this!" (Got this! Got this!) Bickslow and his babies exclaimed.

"Ha, she's just warming up, you know…" Reve smirked.

"She's pretty strong…" Cynthia said, unable to help but admire Taya's strength so far.

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Taya stood up, dusting herself off. She was scratched in a few places, but fine nonetheless. "Hm…not bad, I admit…I felt that one…" She rolled her shoulders, cracking her neck after.

"Let's see how you feel after this one." Laxus raised his arms above his head, creating a bolt of lightning in his hands; it was time for his strongest original technique. "Raging Bolt!" Laxus then hurled the halberd of lightning towards Taya, watching as it raced through the air.

Taya placed her hand forward, a darkened seal appearing on her palm. A blackened sphere appeared from the seal, growing to about twice the size of a basketball. "Shadow Sphere!" With this exclamation, the sphere shot forward, clashing with the Raging Bolt in what seemed to be a stalemate. The two attacks exploded, the shockwave picking up a large wind that nearly blew the two combatants back.

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"Geez…! Those two are way too powerful…!" Luke said after witnessing the explosion.

"Come on, Laxus! Now's your chance!" Evergreen shouted rather obnoxiously.

"The match is yours for the taking!" Makarov shouted.

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"This was a nice warmup…" Laxus said as he stared into the smoke cloud, waiting for it to clear to see Taya's position. In the next second, two vectors latched onto his arms. "What the hell…?" The vectors released a small electrical surge (which didn't bother Laxus due to his elemental affinity) through Laxus' arms. "Get offa me…!" Laxus attempted to swing his arms to remove the vectors off of him, but to his surprise his arms weren't responding to his movements.

"Tsk, tsk…" Taya's heels clicked on the ground as she walked forward through the smoke, a smirk drawn on her face. She stopped a few feet away from Laxus. "Is there a problem, Dreyar?"

"Oi, what's going on?" Laxus growled as his arms weren't responding the way he wanted them to.

"My vectors aren't just for attacking; you know…They have the ability to cut off nerves for small amount of time…" Taya replied, now raising her arms to the sky, creating a darkened magic seal above Laxus. "Twilight Rain…" From the magic seal, darkened drops began to fall onto the lightning dragon slayer, the rain quickly getting heavier.

"LAXUS!" The Raijinshu exclaimed with grave worry.

"Game, set, and match…" Reve stated, and his statement.

"Like hell you'll be getting me like this!" Laxus roared as his body began to bulk during the onslaught of "rain", scales appearing on his now useless arms, his pupils vanishing. Laxus entered Dragon Force, and he did what he could while trapped, he opened his jaw once again, unleashing a point blank Lightning Dragon's Roar on Taya. It was a direct hit, and the eventual power of the Twilight Rain and the Lightning Dragon's roar created a smoke cloud that covered the area.

"O-Oi! What happened?!" Freed asked, immediately jumping from his seat.

"We're about to find out…calm down pretty boy…" Cygnus said towards Freed.

The smoke cleared, and revealed a heavily damaged Tayakata. The lightning dragon's roar left sparks dancing around her body periodically. She was panting somewhat as the attack was a heavy one, but she was still standing. Laxus was the one on the ground in KO, his mouth hanging open to show his shock (no pun intended) in losing. "Better…luck next time, Dreyar…" Taya said with somewhat of a taunting tone.

"…He lost…" Natsu and the rest of Fairy Tail fell silent at Laxus' defeat.

"I told you so," Reve said in his everlasting cocky tone. "Just be thankful it wasn't me out there…it would've been much worse…"

"And Tayakata of White Eclipse moves onto the second round." Ola wrote into the air. She was starting to get a little excited herself, these fights made her impatient to get to hers, whenever it may be.

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"M-Man…" Jack said after watching Taya defeat Laxus. "She's some type of strong, isn't she…?"

"Yes…" Tia nodded. "She's dangerous…we MUST keep an eye on her…"

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"Huh…not bad…she took down the legendary lightning dragon…" The hooded male nodded in approval.

"I'm very surprised as well…" The female said in an awestricken voice.

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Now it was time for the next match; Selene vs. Kagura. Both were decently aware of the others' abilities, but many people bet that Kagura would be the one to take the victory because she was Mermaid Heel's strongest mage. "Go, Kagura-chan!" Milliana and Melody shouted in unison.

"This'll be a tough one for Selene…but I think she can pull through…" Luke said with a nod, putting the upmost faith in his best friend.

"She will pull through," Takeru said while giving an even firmer nod than Luke.

"Those diamonds are a bitch to deal with; they really are a girl's best friend…" Luke chuckled while rolling his shoulders.

"They're about to begin, so let's see how this turns out…"

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For once, the two ladies decided to take a section of Clover Town that wasn't partially destroyed due to the previous fighting. Selene's diamonds immediately covered her body because she knew the strength of the woman she was about to do combat with, though she couldn't help but smirk, showing off the same cockiness all members of White Eclipse had before they began battle. "The White Eclipse tradition is to let the weaker opponent have the first move, you know…"

Kagura showed indifference to the "tradition" explained to her. "Very well…" The mermaid ace bent her knees, gripping her blade, Archenemy, by its blade. Using her Gravity Change, she lightened the gravity around her person and raced towards Selene, drawing her blade in one swift motion. She aimed the blade towards the diamond dragon, but Selene was fast enough to counter with her own diamond blade, entering a quick struggle with the mermaid. The two jumped back a few yards after, repeating the process once again.

"I got her this time…" Selene thought to herself as her sword morphed into a diamond version of Gajeel's Iron Dragon's Sword, jagged edges complete with the rotating chainsaw-like motion. Instead of clashing like the previous time, the two slashed each other simultaneously, sliding to a halt with their backs facing each other.

"Did they just finish each other right there…?" Lucy asked as she watched for the first to fall.

Kagura's eyes shot open as a searing pain appeared in her chest. She looked down; noticing a large gash on her chest, running down diagonally to her left hip; not only this, but her blade was broken in to pieces. "..!"

Selene wasn't faring any better than the ace mermaid, however. Kagura's slash pierced through her diamond scales, leaving the mage heavily injured…in fact, she collapsed right then and there in KO, but it amazed everyone how quickly the two managed to damage each other and finish.

"Oh my…It looks like Kagura makes it to the second round…" Ola wrote, surprised at how quick the match was.

"Now it's time for my fight, right!?" Natsu shouted with a large grin as he hopped up.

"Unfortunately…" Ola would've let out a nervous laugh, but because she didn't have a voice box it just came out as an awkward wheeze. "It's getting rather late, so the idea was to finish the rest of the first round tomorrow, start the second round and see where that got us."

"Lucky for you, Salamander…" Waiston said with a smug grin, his hands resting his jacket pockets. "Saved you another few hours of embarrassment."

"I'll kick your ass!" Was Natsu's only reply, and it seemed good enough for him. The fighters who fought were resting in the infirmary now, being treated by an S class mage by the name of Mathias, who specialized in Glyph magic, similar to runes. Black Phoenix's infirmary was extremely high tech, as the beds healed those who slept in them.

.

.

Hyde sighed as night came, floating in the air with a bored and uninterested expression. "How dull…things aren't looking very entertaining in this dreadfully long tournament…"

"We could always shorten it…" Knightwalker said in her usual dark, sadistic tone. "I'm sure these fighters wouldn't mind another fight…"

"Oh…I think we're coming along with a nice little side story here…" Hyde grinned.

.

.

"…Wanna mess with the fighters?" Jack asked in a hopeful tone. "It's better tonight than never…"

"…Jack…" Tia groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Do whatever you want…just don't kill anyone…"

"I won't." Jack replied as a bright light surrounded him. He entered his Corvus Armor and immediately took flight into the air. The first night of the tournament wasn't going to be a pretty one…


	25. Chapter 24: Hyde and his Gang

"How are the wounded doing?" Ola asked Tristan as he worked on fixing Kagura's blade. "And what is that you're working on?"

"The wounded are doing just fine, Master," Tristan replied with a nod. "They just need a good night's sleep and they should be good as new. As for what I'm working on, this is Kagura-san's blade. She requested that I fix it before she fought once again in the next round."

"I see…Well, good luck. I'm going to turn in now," With a nod, Ola left and went into her room, only to see Cygnus faced down on her bed, fast asleep. "e_e" Ola's shadow turned into a screeching one, immediately waking the gravity god up.

"WHAT!?" Cygnus exclaimed as she jumped awake, looking this way and that before spotting Ola. "…Oh. Hi. Someone's in the wrong room here, huh?"

"You think…?" Ola wrote while shaking her head.

.

.

In Fairy Tail's section (pretty much a house-like area that could suit all participates and others of Fairy Tail) of Black Phoenix, Natsu couldn't help but pace around, unable to wait much longer for his fight the next day. "Gah! I just wanna fight already!"

"I do too, Natsu," Lucy said while taking a seat on the couch in her sleepwear. She was going to turn in soon, evident by her yawn. "But we can't really do much but rest up for tomorrow, ne?"

"She's right," Erza said while giving a nod, requipping into her pajamas. "So why don't we just turn in for the night?"

Natsu looked over his shoulder, noticing Happy totally knocked out in the bed he and Natsu were to share. With a defeated sigh, the Salamander gave a nod. "Alright, alright. I guess I'll get some sleep then."

"Say, Erza…Where's Wendy?" Lucy asked as she looked around the current room, unable to spot the sky dragon or her exceed.

"Since all those who fought today were required to stay in the infirmary, Wendy and Carla went to keep an eye on Cynthia," Erza replied as she hopped into bed.

"That makes sense. But wait…you fought today, why aren't you in the infirmary?" Lucy tilted her head in confusion.

"I convinced Master Ola to let me just rest it off in this room," Erza replied with a simple nod and innocent expression.

"…I can only imagine how that went…" A sweat drop appeared on Lucy's head as she imagined the "talk" Erza and Ola had; she knew about Ola's screaming shadows and Erza's scary side. She just gave a nod, obviously too tired to even move from the couch. "I think I'll just sleep here…"

"Jellal didn't go to the infirmary though…" Erza thought as she closed her eyes. "I wonder where he went…"

.

.

"I feel like today should have been a little longer..." Luke said while yawning. "I didn't even get to fight today…"

"Not a lot of us did…" Aira sighed somewhat while looking up at the ceiling. "And Selene's in the infirmary and they won't even let us heal them…"

"I trust they'll be fine in the morning," Kuro said with a nod. "Tak went over to keep an eye on Selene and Nami went to go keep an eye on Taya just in case."

"Plus I'm totally going to destroy Natsu in my fight tomorrow," Waiston said with a toothy smirk.

"Of course you are," Reve said while patting Waiston on the back. "Now, let's turn in. I want you wall full and rested by tomorrow, understand?"

"Yeah, we got it,"

.

.

Just outside of Black Phoenix stood Knightwalker and Hyde, along with two other figures who appeared as shadows in the darkness of the night. "Now remember, we're only here to cause a little havoc, nothing too far just yet."

"You kind of suck the fun out of everything, but very well…" Knightwalker let out a sigh before changing her Ten Commandments Spear into the Cannon Head Spear, pointing the explosion tip at the door, just inches away from touching it. "Are we all ready?"

"Begin." Hyde said.

With a grin, Knightwalker slammed her Cannon Head spear into the front doors, creating a deafening explosion that caught everyone's attention. "This should be fun…"

.

.

"What the hell was that….?!" Tristan clapped his hands, teleporting to the front doors of BP. To his surprise, the front doors and the wall around it were blown off. "Intruders? At a time like this!? I must warn the others!"

"Magic Thunder."

"Huh?" Tristan heard the voice and turned around, only to be met with a purple bolt of lightning that somewhat paralyzed him on the spot. "W-What the…?" Tristan clenched an eye as he barely managed to turn his head to catch a look at his attacker. Unfortunately, the one who attacked him wore a large robe and a mask to cover their face. "Who are you!?"

"I am Hollow…" The figure replied before pointing his chest forward, a bazooka-type weapon appearing on his chest which immediately began to gather energy. "Thunder Bazooka!" Hollow unleashed the blast, sending a large electrical wave towards the paralyzed Tristan.

"Steel Make: Knight's Armor!" Tristan shouted, and his custom made armor appeared on his body, just in the nick of time to protect him from the attack. The attack did send Tristan flying back into the wall however, leaving him unable to move from paralysis. "W-What the…? I can't move…"

"You're a fool…" Hollow said whilst turning around, inviting himself into Black Phoenix. "Steel may conduct electricity, but my electricity leaves you paralyzed…your steel just made that worse…you can sit there for a while and think about what you've done…"

"G-Get back here…!" Tristan shouted, but his words fell on deaf ears as Hollow made his way inside. "D-Dammit…I can't move at all…if only I could reach the emergency lacrima card…"

.

.

Erza was on alert immediately, her standard armor equipped as she ran down the hallway with Lucy, Natsu, and Happy, while Gray and Juvia took the other direction. "Be alert you three!"

"Right!" Lucy, Natsu, and Happy shouted at the same time.

"I wonder who would attack this late at night…?" Lucy thought aloud as she brought up the rear of the party.

"I intend to find out. Our first stop is the infirmary; we HAVE to see if it and everyone inside are safe." Erza said in a serious tone.

"Which way is the infirmary from here?" Happy asked while looking around. "I can fly Natsu over there at Max Speed!"

"What about me!?" Lucy couldn't help but sneer at the exceed, even in a situation such as this.

"You're too heavy, we probably wouldn't make it in time," Happy replied in a nonchalant tone.

"Gah…! You're lucky we don't have time for this, you stupid cat!" Lucy angrily shouted towards Happy. In the next second, a bolt of purple lightning nearly struck her, but she stopped just in time to let it pass right by her, watching as it completely obliterated the wall to her left. "…!"

Natsu and Erza slid to a stop, looking at Lucy with a look of worry. "Lucy, are you okay?!" Erza asked.

"I'm fine…!" Lucy nodded before turning around to face her attacker, Hollow, who seemed to walk from the shadows of the hallway. "I'll take care of this guy, you guys go check on the infirmary!"

"Okay! Kick his ass, Lucy!" Natsu gave a thumbs up towards his partner as he, Happy, and Erza ran off. He couldn't help but feel worried about Lucy however. Not just because she was missing two of her keys (Taurus and Gemini) still, but because Hollow didn't have a scent…

.

.

In his Corvus armor, Jack flew to the area where he believed the infirmary to be at. "Sis said not to kill…but I don't see anything wrong with scaring these people half to death…" With a chuckle, Jack raised his hand, creating several wisps of purple fire around his person. "I've wanted to raze this place for the longest time now! Wicked Flame!" Jack threw his arm forward, sending the purple wisps forward towards the wall. A purple fiery explosion soon took over that part of the building, and sure enough it caught the infirmary in its phantom-like blaze. "AHAHA!"

"Jack…" Tia watched her brother from afar. She had to let him do what he wanted every so often, she just hoped she wouldn't regret the decision this time around.

.

.

The hooded male and his companion were watching the events in BP from afar, the purple explosion catching their attention. "This isn't a good turn of events…"

"We have to go help them!" The female nearly shouted.

"Why? There are a lot of powerful wizards in that building. I don't see a point in helping them; they can handle themselves." The male replied while crossing his arms, a serious tone (which was rare based on the way he spoke) present in his voice.

The female paused; her partner had a point. She let out a sigh while looking at the ground. "Sorry…you're right…"

"I know it's not easy watching something bad happen right in front of you, but you have to believe the people in there will take care of it themselves." The male nodded firmly. "Now, if things happen to get way too out of control, then maybe I'll see it fit to step in…"

.

.

"T-The infirmary's on fire…!?" Wendy began to panic as the flames roared in the room.

"We have to get the wounded out of here!" Carla said as her wings sprouted.

"Sting-kun, wake up…!" Lector shook Sting as hard as he could, eventually waking the injured white dragon.

"Eh…What's going on…" Sting was still groggy, so it took a few seconds for everything to cope into focus; when he did realize what was going on, he jumped out of the bed, eyes wide. "W-What the hell?!"

"I'm not too terribly wounded…" Cynthia said as she sat up, jolting awake at the purple flames. "GAH!? What's going on!?"

"The room is on fire, dear…" Taya said in a calm voice, keeping her composure despite the situation. She brought forth a vector and aimed it towards the door to break it down, but the flames roared, blocking off the vector's path to the door. "What the hell…?!"

"Taya, you shouldn't be moving yet…!" Nami flailed.

"We're trapped in here…! The flames react to anything getting near it and block it off…" Carla quickly deduced.

"These flames are familiar…" Wendy said as she remembered the tail end of the Dealer incident. "Jack! He used these flames! We can't stay in here!"

"That's obvious…!" Kagura said while sitting up slowly, wincing from the pain in her chest from Selene's cut. It wasn't as bad as before, but she still shouldn't have been moving.

"I can't get us out with the use of my shadow…these flames seem to be blocking magic in and around it…" Takeru said as he carried Selene in his arms, a scowl on his face. "We're trapped in here…"

"I can't eat these flames either…" Cynthia groaned as she stood up. "These flames aren't normal…aren't they supposed to be creating smoke and leaving us out of breath…?

"I don't have a good feeling about this…" Taya said as her eyes narrowed.

.

.

"Oh, come now, surely you can do a little better than that!" Hyde taunting Reve, Leon, and Trinity, who were all firing off long range attacks at the Dark Phantom. All of their attacks phased through Hyde and he wasn't even trying to evade them.

"What the hell is this guy made out of air!?" Reve grunted in frustration as he let loose a continuous stream of bullets towards Hyde that just hit the wall behind him.

"He's a balloon!?" Leon questioned in complete obliviousness despite the situation.

"Allow me to show you a small extent of my power!" Hyde shouted as she swung his cape in front of him, sending a powerful hurricane towards the three. "Phantom Slash!" The hurricane swept Leon and Trinity off their feet, but Reve stayed in place.

"I got you…" Reve smirked as he blinked, his eyes changing into a green color. He assumed that Hyde was one of those people who you had to attack while they were or after. Reve aimed his shotgun at Hyde and fired off a beam of magic towards the Dark Phantom. But, just as the previous shots, this one phased right through, leaving Reve visibly angered. "What the hell!?"

"Haha, your puny bullets will never harm me…in fact, none of your attacks will even touch me. You cannot hurt a phantom…" Hyde chuckled before vanishing.

"Hey, get back here..!" Trinity growled.

.

.

"The infirmary's down this way!" Natsu shouted, picking up the pace in his running. "We have to hurry, something bad is happening over there!"

"How much father until we reach it?!" Erza asked.

"We turn this corner, run down and make another left!" Natsu replied.

"Got it!" Erza nodded, and she along with Natsu and Happy turned the corner, only to be met by a tall male with a red vest, red pants, white hair reaching down to his shoulders, and the symbol of the sun on his chest. "Who…!?"

"Where do you three think you're going?" The male asked while brushing his white hair back, snapping his fingers after. "Sun Snake." From the male's feet, two bright orange snakes appeared and slithered towards Natsu, Erza, and Happy.

"On guard!" Erza exclaimed as she requipped into her Flame Empress Armor, raising her sword at the incoming snakes. They exploded rather violently before she got the chance to swing, causing the floor under her and Natsu to crumble and fall into a lower level.

"Natsu…!" Happy immediately flew towards the hole in the floor.

"I don't think so…" The male swiftly brought the back of his hand to Happy's cheek, sending the exceed spiraling into the nearest wall, unconscious. "Oh, Apollo Flame, Glorious Sun God, you really outdo yourself sometimes…"

"Ngh…" Natsu groaned as he slowly regained his senses. "What the hell is going on around here…"

"Natsu, from above!" Erza shouted while pointing up.

"I can assure you…" Apollo said while jumping into the hole, landing on the ground with two swords completely composed of flames equal in heat to that of the Sun. "The pain will only last an instant!" Apollo swung his Sun Blades rather skillfully towards Natsu, who barely managed to dodge due to just regaining his footing. Natsu jumped back, leaving room for Erza to come in with a slash, but Apollo immediately turned and blocked the slash, causing Erza to jump back.

"Talons!" Natsu exclaimed while aiming a fiery axe kick towards Apollo, but the Sun God blocked the hit with his sword, causing Natsu to flip back before charging once again, Erza following suit as well.

"Feel the power of the sun!" With this exclamation, Apollo placed his blades into the ground, a golden magic seal in the shape of the sun appeared on the ground around him. "Sun God's Towering Inferno!" The magic seal shimmered as though it were the sun before a blazing eruption of yellow flames towered into the sky, destroying a large section of Black Phoenix.

.

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"Oi, oi! I think I hear something down this end!" Luke shouted while running alongside Aira.

"I wonder who decided to do this…" Aira thought aloud as she ran beside Luke.

"We're about to find out!" Luke replied, now turning the corner, sliding to a halt with a comically freaked out expression. "W-What the hell is that thing!?" Luke was referring to the large blue and purple Yeti with blazing yellow eyes. This Yeti buried a large section of the room in snow, squeezing the life out of Yukino slowly and Gray with its crushing grip. Juvia and Rufus were both heavily damaged and buried under the snow to the point where they couldn't move.

"A Yeti!?" Aira's eyes popped open before she rushed to Juvia and Rufus, beginning the healing process. "Luke!"

"Oi! I'm on it!" Luke nodded to Aira as flames covered his body. "Hey, ugly!" Luke launched himself off the ground, propelling himself towards the large Yeti at a great speed.

"Hm…?" The Yeti turned his attention away from the two victims in his hand, just noticing the incoming Luke. Luke slammed right into the Yeti's abdomen, causing his hold on Gray and Yukino to immediately release, and he hit the wall. "RUGH!"

"You alright?" Luke looked over his shoulder to Gray and Yukino who were both coughing for air, though he was actually ignoring Gray and just asking Yukino.

"I-I'll be fine…" Yukino replied as she rubbed her neck, taking a few heavy breaths. "Thank you…"

"No need to thank me…" Luke said with a nod, now turning his attention to the enraged Yeti.

"You're gonna regret that, pipsqueak!"

"It can talk too!?" Luke blinked, giving the creature an awestruck expression.

"I'm gonna smash you! You're gonna regret messing with Yeti Blizzard!" The large Yeti then raised his arm into the air. "Yukidama Rush!" Suddenly, a large snow ball appeared in Blizzard's hand, which quickly turned into a raging avalanche that rushed towards the copy mage, the ice make mage, and the second celestial spirit mage.

"Oh noo…." Luke stared at the incoming avalanche with a "help me" expression.

.

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"It's a shame Brachio was unable to make it…" Knightwalker said to herself as she walked through Black Phoenix, making it her own with just her walk. "This isn't a shabby building at all…it's just as large as Edolas Castle if not larger…" Her fingers trailed lightly against the wall as she hummed a dark tune to herself. "I do hope I run across someone interesting…"

"There are many interesting opponents to face for the time being, my dear Knightwalker~" Hyde said as he appeared in front of the Edolas Knight, almost startling her.

"You need to quit that…" Knightwalker said as she slowly released the tight grip she had on her spear. "I'm not finding anyone…I know those might aces are around, where are they hiding?"

"Actually, it appears they left before we began. A bit unfortunate, but we can have our fun with them later. Until then, how about you cause a commotion until someone finds you?"

"Excellent idea. I don't want Apollo, Blizzard, or you to steal all the fun now…" Knightwalker once again changed her spear into the Cannon Head Spear, swinging it around to cause a chain of explosions in the building.

"Perfect…" Hyde grinned before vanishing once again. The attack on Black Phoenix was just beginning…


	26. Chapter 25: Attack's End

BP was a large-castle like building, but even this building couldn't stand up to the power of Hyde, Knightwalker, Apollo Flame, Hollow, and Yeti Blizzard. Half of the build was burning while the other half was burning down. Ola ran out of her room (with Cygnus who refused to leave due to laziness) with an enraged look on her face, her shadows conveying her current mode. "WHAT IS GOING ON!?"

"Master Ola!" Ran towards the silent mage, panting somewhat. "There's fire everywhere! Some orange, some purple! I don't know what to do about the purple fire!"

"Wait, so you have an idea on the regular fire?" Cygnus asked while raising a brow.

"Well, duh," Lucina replied as a few stray embers from behind her morphed into a raging flame. "Watch!" The female ran forward, extending her hands; this prompted several purple crystals to shoot from her hands and cover the walls, seeping into them, thus changing the material of the wall, making it flame resistant. The flames roared for a few more minutes before calming down into a harmless blaze. "Ether Crystals are really handy when dealing with fire…I'd been meaning to change the material of the guild for a while now…guess it's kinda my fault this is happening…"

"Lucina, keep doing that!" Ola wrote, giving a few quick nods before continuing. "Where are these purple fires?"

"Around the infirmary! I tried to get the door open but those fires wouldn't budge, and I'm sure the wounded are still in there!"

"I'll take care of it," Cygnus gave a nod. "Which way is the infirmary?"

"Uh…It's down a few floors…" Lucina replied. "I don't know if you'll make it in time…!"

"Psh! Don't' underestimate a Gravity God!" Cygnus replied with a cocky grin. He walked a few steps forward before raising his hand, allowing heavy gravity to form around it, weighing his fist down somewhat. "Gravity God's Heavy Smash!" Cygnus then threw his fist down, shattering the floor below him, thus heading down the floor below him.

"HE'S GONNA PAY FOR DAMAGING THOSE FLOORS!" Ola angrily wrote before huffing (at least attempting to). She then turned to Lucina with a worried look. "Are the wounded going to be okay?"

"I think so…that fire didn't seem to have any physically harming properties, but that's what worries me…" Lucina sighed before leading Ola to the source of the largest fire. "There are members of the other guilds currently trying to quell the fire! Let's meet them there and see what we can do!"

.

.

"Magic Thunder!" Hollow exclaimed while raising hand into the air. Multiple bolts of thunder rained down from the ceiling and made their way towards Lucy.

In one swift motion, Lucy already had two of her golden keys in her hand, preparing to summon the first one. "Gate of the Ram, I open thee! Aries!" In a puff of smoke, followed by the chime of an otherworldly bell, the shy ram appeared, tugging at the bottom of her outfit.

"W-What can I-" Aries started, but before she could finish, she noticed the incoming Magic Thunder coming her way, so she immediately threw up a large wall of pink, fluffy wool for defense to cushion the incoming magic thunder. The wool held, though it dispersed after the attack.

"Nice job, Aries!" Lucy said with nod before jumping forward, pulling out what she thought to be a key. "Gate of the Golden-" Lucy's eyes widened in shock as she remembered something with in the heat of battle. "That's right…! I don't have Taurus with me…!"

Hollow took the chance while Lucy was distraught to attack, the bazooka appearing on his chest once again, purple lightning now beginning to charge on it. "Thunder Bazooka!" Once again, Hollow fired off the large blast of lightning towards Lucy, the floor in the lightning's path simply uprooting and dissolving into nothing.

Lucy closed her eyes and awaited the impact, mentally kicking herself for leaving herself open like this. She was surprised when she felt nothing hit her. "Huh…?" She opened her eyes, only to see that Aries shielded her from the attack. "A-Aries?!"

"S-Sorry…" Aries coughed as she purple sparks danced around her heavily damaged body. "I-I had to make up…for what I did to you during the T-Tataros crisis…" With that, Aries dissipated into a golden fuzz, returning to the Spirit World.

"A-Aries…" Lucy's expression went from shocked to angered as she stood up once again, glaring towards Hollow. "You…!"

"A celestial spirit mage…" Hollow said with an emotionless tone. "Interesting…You're not the only one who can conjure up spirits…"

"What…?" Lucy raised a brow, gripping her key ring once more as she used the current situation to decide which key she should use next.

"Observe…" Hollow extended his hands causing the immediate five foot radius around him to go pitch black. "Summon Spirit…Phantom." From the darkness, a hunched over ghost appeared, blue wisp swirling around it as it let out a creepy moan, now trudging towards Lucy.

"E-Ehhh!? What is that…!?" Lucy took a step back before regaining her composure. "Gate of the Scorpion, I open thee! Scorpio!" Another golden light appeared, this time releasing the sand spirit Scorpio, who was clearly tired.

"We are…!" The spirit shook his head to wake up.

Lucy pointed towards Hollow and his ghostly spirit. "Scorpio, take them out!"

"We are!" Scorpio grinned and pointed his stinger forward, unleashing a high powered tornado of sand to rush Hollow and his phantom. "Sand Buster!"

"Ghost Flame!" Hollow ordered, and the phantom immediately went in front of Hollow, the blue wisp surrounding the being to create a shield against the Sand Buster. The Sand Buster connected with the Ghost Flame, though the phantom was slightly weaker than Scorpio overall so it slid back a feet few, though it was unharmed once the attack was finished.

"We are!? Our sand didn't work…!?" Scorpio sneered somewhat at the AOK ghost.

"No, it did work!" Lucy pointed at the skid marks on the floor. "It pushed it back!"

"Do not get so excited…" Hollow replied while throwing his forward, generating purple bolts of lightning. "It doesn't matter if the attack pushed the phantom back, it was unable to do damage…you must see the big picture and stop getting ahead of yourself over small victories…"

Lucy merely smirked at Hollow's words. "A small victory is where you start! You see, since we both now know that your phantom's defenses aren't entirely effective against Scorpio's Sand Buster, it's a wonder what would happen if it took a direct hit…"

"…" Hollow remained silent, though he showed no emotion to Lucy's words.

.

.

Luke threw his head forward, unleashing a Fire Dragon's Roar upon the incoming Yukidama Rush (avalanche); his roar slammed against the incoming snow, but it was quickly extinguished due to the momentum the snow had, and consumed Luke, Gray, and Yukino throwing them into the nearest wall. "D-Damn…" Luke allowed his body to erupt in flames, melting most of the snow which enabled him to stand up.

"Ugh…" Gray couldn't move, more or less because of his injuries from his battle with Kuro. "Shit…"

"What is this thing…?" Yukino asked as she stood up, gripping one of her golden keys.

"I dunno but I really wanna kick its ass…" Luke said as he ran forward once again, fire and lightning covering his fist. "Iron Fist of the Lightning Flame Dragon!"

"Annoying pests!" Blizzard exclaimed with a groan, throwing his own fist forward to clash with Luke's; his raw power took Luke for a surprise when he flew back seconds after impact.

"Damn…!" Luke flipped and caught himself in a crouched position. "Aira, how are the wounded coming along?"

"Almost done!" Aira replied. "Hold it off for another minute or two!"

"Yukidama Fall!" Yeti Blizzard held his hand up, creating four large snowballs aimed towards Aira. These snowballs then launched themselves towards Aira and the wounded Rufus and Juvia she was treating.

In the next second, Yukino pulled out a singular golden key, swiping it across the air. "Gate of the Heavenly Scales, I open thee! Libra!" In a flash of light, the spirit of gravity appeared before Yukino. "Increase the gravity of those snowballs!"

"Hai!" Libra nodded, and suddenly the force of gravity around the four snowballs intensified, causing them to drop to the ground with a loud thud.

"W-What the-?" Blizzard turned to see what caused the interference, but as soon as he turned his cheek was met by Luke's flaming leg for a roundhouse, the impact sending the large creating stumbling in a circle before regaining himself. "I'm getting tired of you!" Blizzard jumped into the air, now aiming his large foot down on Luke, Yukino, and Libra.

"Watch out!" Luke tackled Yukino out of the way while Libra jumped off to the other side. Blizzard's Big Stamp created a crater several feet deep, leaving a little shockwave after. "Whew…Are you okay—?" Luke looked down only to see that he was accidently groping the celestial mage, leaving her with a dark blush. "GAH!" Luke hopped up, turning his attention to the battle quickly. "S-Sorry…!"

"LUKE!" Aira stared in disbelief at the copy mage.

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT." Luke replied while flailing his arms. "I didn't mean to…!"

"A-Anyway…" Yukino stood up, her blush still evident.

"You humans are really weird creatures…" Blizzard said as he stood tall, even in the several foot crater he created.

"You're one to talk…" Luke scoffed. "You're a fucking talking Yeti…I don't really see what's normal about this in the slightest…"

.

.

Erza stood with her Adamantine armor on, protecting her and Natsu from Apollo Flame's attack unscathed, though the armor did take a heavy hit, but Erza didn't let it show. "You'll have to do better than that!"

"Hm…Interesting…" Apollo stroked the white hair over his shoulder. "You blocked my attack with minimal damage…That's some impressive armor you've got."

"Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu exclaimed as he jumped from behind Erza with his fist wrapped in flames, lunging towards the Sun God while throwing his fist forward.

"Impudent..!" Apollo brought his arm up just in time to block Natsu's attack. Natsu followed up with a spinning roundhouse which was also blocked.

While Natsu was in the middle of his roundhouse, his cheeks puffed out; once he completed the turn, he unleashed a funnel of flames towards Apollo. "Roar!"

"Sun Barrier!" Apollo exclaimed as the sun appeared around his person, protecting him front the Fire Dragon's Roar. "Fool! Do you not know who you're dealing with!? I am the Sun God himself! You cannot defeat me, Fire Dragon, Requip Mage!"

"I don't give a damn who you are!" Natsu roared as he went on the offensive once again, throwing a skillful flurry of punches and kicks towards Apollo, though they all just missed as Apollo dodged them with ease. "You decided to pick a fight with Fairy Tail and now you've got one!" Natsu jumped back, allowing Erza (who was now in her Purgatory Armor).

"And it's going to say you picked a fight with Fairy Tail on your GRAVESTONE," Erza said while raising her voice, swinging her weapon towards Apollo, who just barely jumped back, his eyes wide from how aggressive Erza was with such a dangerous weapon.

"Oh oh oh…" Apollo played off his surprise and grinned. "You fools don't know the power of which you're facing…allow me to show you…!" Apollo raised his hand, creating a sun magic seal above him. "Meteor Rain!" Apollo threw his hands down, unleashing a plethora of small meteors upon Natsu and Erza.

.

.

Cygnus peered down the hole in the floor, watching Natsu and Erza take on Apollo Flame. "Eh, they got it." He then turned his attention to the raging purple fire. "Jack…" Cygnus clapped his hands together, creating a black hole in front of him. "This should work..." The black hole began to suck in the purple flames from the outside of the infirmary, though the black hole began to shrink as it absorbed the flames, leaving Cygnus with a befuddled expression. "What the…" Eventually, his black hole dispersed, but it did take out a nice chunk of the flames. "OI!

"Is that Cygnus…?" Taya asked while turning her attention to the door.

"Back up, I wanna try something…!" Cynthia stepped forward, puffing her cheeks out. "Omega Fire Dragon's Roar!" Cynthia threw her head forward, unleashing a funnel of flames towards the purple ones. Oddly enough, her flames managed to extinguish the opposing ones. "Eh…?"

"That worked…?" Takeru blinked a few times before shaking his head. "Let's get out of here!"

.

.

Leon managed to sniff Tristan, immediately running over to him with a look of worry. "Tristan…are you okay?!"

"Leon-san…" Tristan grunted as the paralysis around him started to wear off. "What's going on…? Have you seen the others…?"

"I ran into some weird phantom guy with Trinity and someone from White Eclipse, but I lost track of him after…" Leon replied as Tristant stood up slowly.

"Did you really now…?" Hyde said as he appeared before Leon and Tristan.

"That's him!" Leon shouted before unleashing a quick Acid Dragon's Roar towards Hyde, but the acid phased right through him, not even bothering him in the slightest. "Again…!?"

"Steel Make!" Tristan began as he slid his fist into his palm. "Lance!" A silver magic seal appeared before Tristan, unleashing a plethora of steel lances that flew towards Hyde, but they too phased right through him while he yawned. "What…?!"

"Come now, you should know those attacks won't work!" Hyde laughed.

"Steel Make: Sword!" Tristan's handmade sword appeared in his hand, and he lunged towards Hyde with it.

"Acid Dragon's Blade!" Leon exclaimed, creating a blade of acid in his hands, rushing towards Hyde alongside Tristan.

"Oh, I suppose I can humor you both for a few moments…Stick Sword!" Hyde's cane became a blade in an instant, and he allowed the duo of Leon and Tristan to approach him, both swinging their swords at him. Hyde blocked both blades with his cane, the acid from Leon's blade not affecting the material in Hyde's cane in the slightest. Hyde then swung his cane, causing the duo to jump back. Now, they came at Hyde one at a time, first Tristan, then Leon, but neither of them were able to bypass Hyde's skillful defenses, and if they did, their blades would just phase through his person.

"Why can't we hit him…?" Tristan grunted as he slid back.

"You cannot hit what isn't there…" Hyde replied. His senses then kicked in as he sensed an attack from behind him; he turned, causing the icicles to phase through him like everything else so far. "A sneak attack…? Nice try…"

"Just as I thought…" A female said as she jumped from the ceiling to the floor. This female had long black hair what was highlighted a light blue in some areas. She was in sleep wear, and didn't seem too happy about the entire ordeal.

"Hikaru-san…" Tristan blinked a few times at the female's sudden appearance, but he was glad she was around.

"Hm…now it's just gotten too crowded for my liking…" Hyde sighed before he just…vanished into thin air.

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Knightwalker stood across from Jellal, a dark smirk curling onto her lips. "My, my…What do we have here…?"

"I should be asking you the same question…" Jellal replied as he took one of the staves from behind his back. "I can sense that darkness I'm hunting down from you…but you're not who I'm after…"

"Oh? What an interesting little tale…" Knightwalker replied as her spear changed shape. "Mel-Force!" After that, a powerful gust of wind emitted from the tip of her spear, blowing Jellal back a distance. He flipped and caught himself, sliding across the floor. "Tell me more?"

"Tch…Just like Erza…but the complete opposite at the same time…" Jellal grunted before a light engulfed his body. "Meteor!"

"Knightwalker." Hyde said as he appeared from nowhere.

"Tch? What do you want, I'm busy…" Knightwalker said with a hint of aggravation in her voice.

"We're leaving. We've stirred up enough for the time being…" Hyde replied.

"You…" Jellal could sense what he was looking for from Hyde.

"Hm…Interesting…" Hyde took a glance at Jellal before shrugging him off. "I'm letting the others know." With that, Hyde vanished once again.

"…Hmph…" Knightwalker hoisted her spear over her shoulder and began to walk off. "Seems you were lucky tonight "Jellal"…"

"Edolas Erza…" Jellal mumbled under his breath. "Hyde…"

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"Sand Buster!" Scorpio exclaimed as he aimed his stinger…towards the ceiling, unleashing a quick burst of sand towards the ceiling, causing it to shatter and fall towards Hollow and his phantom.

"Tch…" Was Hollow's only reply as the phantom acted on instinct, creating its Ghost Flame around its body to protect itself from the falling debris.

"Now!" Lucy exclaimed, and Scorpio followed suit, aiming a Sand Buster at the already distracted phantom. A direct hit, the phantom vanished into nothing due to being unable to handle the Sand Buster and the falling debris. "We got it!" Hollow gave no expression; he just stared at Lucy and turned around, beginning to walk off. "H-Hey?! Get back here!?"

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Natsu hopped from left to right, avoiding the incoming meteors along with Erza. He found an opening, and took it, swinging his fist right for the face of Apollo Flame. A direct hit. Apollo staggered backwards with a burn mark on his cheek. "Y-You…!? How DARE you place a blemish upon the face of your god!?"

"There's a lot more where that came from too you bastard!" Natsu said with a smirk after finally landing a hit.

"Y-You!" Apollo shook his fist in anger before realizing what time it was. "Oh…you get lucky this time Fire Dragon and Requip mage…but next time, I won't be so merciful…" With that, a bright flash of light appeared around Apollo and he vanished.

"What just…" Erza blinked a few times.

.

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"Gah…Fuck this guy…" Luke groaned as he sat up in the snow created by Yeti Blizzard.

"He's very powerful…" Aira commented while placing her hands forward, preparing yet another attack.

"Gahaha! What's the problem?!" Blizzard asked in a taunting tone. "Too strong for ya!"

"Not even!" Luke immediately replied.

"Well!..." Blizzard started, but realized it was time to go based on the amount of magical energy he felt leaving. "You're lucky for tonight…" With that, the large yeti jumped through the nearest wall and out the building.

"…What was that all about…?" Rufus asked with a befuddled expression.

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The fire around BP slowly came to a halt with the help of the other guild members, though there were some serious injuries due to the fire. "Is everyone alive…?" Jura asked while looking around.

"I've…seen better days…" Lyon replied while wincing from his burns. "That fire was intense…"

"Everyone is here and accounted for, though the injuries are on just about everyone…" Levy said while looking at everyone, feeling a little disheartened that she was unable to help then.

"What a night this has been…" Rouge sighed heavily while leaving against the charred wall. "I didn't expect a sudden attack…"

"Nobody did…" Ola wrote as she walked forward with Lucina, a frown on her face. "We can't continue the tournament like this…"

"Hold on a second…!" Cynthia interrupted. "We totally can! The infirmary's fine! It was a weird attack though…but don't cancel the tournament…!"

"The infirmary is fine?" Lucina tapped her foot on the ground a few times but nodded. "If that's the case, we can continue, right?"

"I may be able to fix the sections everyone was sleeping in…" Zalen said while pushing up his glasses. "Construction magic IS my forte, after all…I just ask that you all clean up after yourselves because this floor was so dirty while I was running it almost took my mind off the situation."

"Fine, fine…Though people are still wounded from tonight and I doubt they'll be able to fight for the other rounds…" Ola nodded before coming up with an idea. "I'll just take a select few people from each guild and put them in matches, is that okay?"

"Fine with me," Jura said while nodded.

"Very well…I'll post the results tomorrow…"

.

.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Gildarts, Sidney, and Evanee sat in a room with Lahar and Doranbolt. "I'd like to thank you three for coming on such short notice…" Lahar said while adjusting his glasses.

"What do you want?" Evanee asked, blowing a tuff of hair from her face while crossing her arms.

"There's something we're going to need your strength on…all three of you, actually." Doranbolt began.

"Is that so?" Sidney inquired while giving an indifferent expression.

"What'cha got for us?" Gildarts asked with a curious look.

"You see…"


	27. Chapter 26: Quarter Finals Part 1

Since the events during the previous night, matches in the tournament were rearranged to accommodate the injuries most of the others took while attempting to stop the attack on Black Phoenix. Many members of the other guilds found that they weren't healed enough in the morning to fight in the tournament, so it was continued and shortened by the request of others. The new first matchup was Lucy vs. Yukino. Ola tried to make it so that every guild would have a chance at winning the tournament, but it was a little difficult to do so when a majority was still injured and healing magic only helped them but so much. Quatro Cerberus decided it would better to drop out and help the wounded. "There are always other chances" Bacchus said in response when asked why they'd leave the other guilds to battle it out. Lucy and Yukino took the stage in Clover Town (which was surprisingly left untouched during the attack) and held their keys out. "Let's give it a good match, alright, Yukino?"

"Hai," Yukino nodded. "I can't lose, I have Sabertooth's pride riding on me again…I won't lose…"

"Gate of the Lion, I open thee! Loke! Gate of the Maiden, I open thee! Virgo" Lucy summoned her trusted spirit, Loke, and her faithful servant, Virgo, both spirits appearing in front of her.

"Ready to go." Loke said while adjusting the cuffs on his suit.

"I am ready to assist you in any way possible, Princess," Virgo said with a nod.

"Gate of the Twin Fish, I open thee. Pisces." Yukino held her key out, summoning the black and white twin fish, watching as the floated around her.

"Fiiiiiiiiish…" Happy drooled at the sight of the large fish, entering a trance as he stared at them.

"Honestly, Happy…" Carla let out a sigh as the blue exceed flat out ignored her from being too far gone.

"As long as he makes no attempts to eat them…" Pantherlily replied.

"They'd eat him first…" Cynthia said with a slight giggle.

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Jack gave a yawn while resting on a charred part of the Black Phoenix roof, grinning to himself as he watched the battle between the celestial mages. He glanced over to Tia after a few moments. "How was THAT for scouting? Look at all the people who are fighting now!"

"Hmm…" Tia couldn't help but agree that Jack's methods were effective to a degree. "Don't forget about the other attack that happened along with yours…"

"There was another attack…?" Jack blinked, now turning around fully. "I didn't see anyone…"

"I didn't catch their names, but they did battle with some of the people while you were razing the building. They also razed another quarter of it after you finished…"Tia replied. "It's a shame…I wanted to get data on everyone involved…I suppose it can't be helped though…we already have data on Fairy Tail and White Eclipse…I just wanted to see if there were other threats we needed to be aware about…"

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"Well…last night certainly could've gone better…" The hooded male said while kicking over some burnt debris on the top of the guild.

"We should've help…" The female pouted, letting out a huff after. "We could've stopped so many injuries…"

"That's true…I didn't expect two attacks on the guild…But no one is dead, right?" The male said while attempting to give a positive outlook on the situation.

"Hmph…You're right there…but still…" The female sighed before turning her eyes to the fight. "It's hard watching something like that and not helping…"

"Ah, yeah, I know…But, our time will be coming soon. After this tournament, hopefully nothing else happens…" The male replied with a nod. "Until then, let's just keep watching. Next time we'll help if something bad happens, okay?"

"Fine…" The female gave a slight smile.

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"Hyde…?" Ultear raised a brow as Jellal uttered the name to her and Meredy. "I've never heard of him before…is he the one you're after?"

"That's correct…" Jellal nodded, sighing heavily after. "I remember him; he was a member of the Tower of Heaven, but he escaped before I took it over. He was madder than I, from what I remember…He actually fought the guards and succeeded many times…his punishments were severe, but…"

"He sounds dangerous…" Meredy said while glancing towards Jellal.

"When he escaped on his own, he became known as Dark Phantom or Phantom Black…" Jellal continued. "I should've realized it was him the moment I felt the darkness."

"Phantom Black…?" Ultear raised a brow. "So he's extremely dangerous from what you're saying?"

"Yes," Jellal nodded. "He's a phantom…no attacks have ever made contact with him…I witnessed it myself…It's like he's there, but he's not…"

"Do you think he'll attack again?" Ultear asked with a serious expression.

"I don't think so…" Jellal replied. "He said to the Edolas version of Erza that it was time for him and the rest of his "friends" to go…so I don't think they'll be attacking again…But it wouldn't hurt to keep a close eye on him if possible…I don't know what he's been up to since we've last met but I can assume it won't be good…"

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Lucy and Yukino were really going at it; their battle was now at the point where they both burned through their magic, and were left with nothing but their own fists. Both were damaged quite heavily, and they both refused to be the first one to fall. "I'm not giving up here…" Lucy said while tightening her hands into fist. It had been a while since she actually won a fight on her own, and she didn't want to make Fairy Tail seem like a joke. She took a step forward before running towards Yukino, prepared for the ensuing hand to hand combat.

"I won't be the first one to fall…" Yukino mumbled while running forward, meeting Lucy in hand to hand combat. Lucy threw a fist towards Yukino's cheek, landing a direct hit, and Yukino followed suit, landing her own punch on Lucy's cheek. The spectators remained silent as the two females continued to throw their fist, each time connecting with the face of the other. Eventually, the two threw their fists at the same time, landing the finishing blow on each other. Both Lucy and Yukino fell to the ground in KO after the final punch.

"It's a draw!" Ola wrote.

"Lucy…" Natsu couldn't help but smile before he went out; deciding to help Lucy into the infirmary himself while Sting went to retrieve Yukino.

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"Not a bad fight all…" The hooded male nodded in serious approval. "That's someone I like to see…"

"She really put her all into that…" The female too gave a nod, a soft smile appearing on her lips.

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"She's more resistant than I thought she would be…" Tia raised a brow at Lucy's fight. "I didn't know she would be that durable…I honestly thought she'd snap like a twig under pressure…"

"What makes you think that…?" Jack asked, not even bothering to look at Tia because he was looking into the sky.

"Look at her…she looks so frail…" Tia replied while gesturing to Lucy's figure. "It just looks like she'd snap in one powerful hit…I'm also a little jealous of her figure…" Tia mumbled that last part out, poking her thighs subconsciously.

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Now the next match was certainly an interesting one: Ola, the master of Black Phoenix vs. Rogue. Both were users of shadows, but the way they used their shadows was different, which was the factor that made this upcoming match interesting. Ola stepped into Clover Town, cracking her next and knuckles. "Are you ready, Rouge?"

"Shadow Drive…" Rogue mumbled under his breath, a black aura surrounded his body, causing his hair to spike upwards. His eyes turned a blazing red color as he nodded to Ola. "Ready…"

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"Rogue can do it!" Frosch exclaimed while waving to his dear friend via lacrima screen.

"He's got this! Sabertooth!" Orga exclaimed while throwing his hand into the air.

"Hmph…This should be an interesting bout…" Future Rogue thought to himself while watching his present counterpart battle.

"How many matches are after this…?" Cynthia asked, tilting her head towards Tristan who seemed to be in charge whole Ola was out.

"Hm? Oh, since things were cut short, we have a few matches left…Myself vs. Erza, you vs. Jura, Tayakata vs. Kagura, Luke vs. Lucina, Natsu vs. Waiston, Wendy vs. Chelia and lastly Leon vs. Melody for this round."

"So not a lot, huh…? Alright…" Cynthia nodded and turned her attention to the fight, which was already heated once she turned back. "Whoa!"

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Rouge wrapped his hands and feet in his in shadows, aiming a plethora of punches and kicks towards the silent mage. Ola was nimble and light on her feet, so she was able to dodge most of what Rogue threw at her. At an incoming punch, she blocked, retaliating with her own high kick with the heel of her…heel, however her foot fazed right through Rogue's shadowy state, leaving her with a confused expression. "…?" Rouge then aimed a sweep kick at Ola's ankles, successfully throwing her off her feet, but Ola counted by catching herself on her hands, now aiming her own shadow infused axe kick at Rogue's head, landing the hit, causing the shadow dragon to stumble back. Ola landed on her feet, commanding her shadow to move forward, changing into the shape of a hand to grasp Rogue.

"Not so fast…" Rouge mumbled, his movements now becoming rather erratic, causing Ola's grab to miss. He then began to circle around Ola in attempt to confuse her, his cheeks puffing out in the process. "Shadow Dragon's Roar!" Rogue opened his mouth, unleashing a funnel of shadows towards the silent master.

(The best defense is the best offense~) Ola cooed via telepathy now as her shadow morphed into a sphere around her person, protecting her from the roar, leaving her completely unscathed. After, spikes protruded from the sphere around Ola, catching Rogue off guard as a spike caught his arm, causing him to slow his movements to check his wounds. (See what I mean~?)

"Agh…" Rogue grunted as he felt a large gash on his arm. He couldn't let this slow him down, she he kept moving, now in a zig zag pattern with his katana in hand. "Secret Art: Shadow Dragon's Quiet Rage…" Rogue slashed his katana at the sphere around Ola numerous times, cleaving through the magic which left the master quite surprised. After that, Rogue landed a shadow infused roundhouse to Ola's skull, causing her to stagger back with what was supposed to be a grunt. "Shadow Dragon's Slash!" Rogue took advantage of his offensive and aimed a punch towards Ola, but she recovered much faster than he thought she would and caught his punch, leaving him wide eyed.

(Not so fast, my dear…) Ola said with a smirk, her hair creating a shadow over her blue eyes. She hurled Rogue to the nearest building, now conjuring up several screaming shadows, only this time it wasn't for entertainment. These shadows were out for blood, noted by how quickly they traveled to the temporarily downed Shadow Dragon with their claws extended.

"What!?" Rogue's expression changed as he pushed himself up, quickly using his Shadow Drive boost to escape the ferocious shadows, but they hunted him down quickly, climbing on the remains of some buildings to cut him off.

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"Holy shit…" Cygnus blinked, completely astounded by the shadows and the way the hunted their prey (Rogue) restlessly.

"Those things are relentless…" Jura commented while watching the hot pursuit.

"Come on, Rogue, you can outrun them…!" An injured Sting exclaimed.

"I don't think outrunning them is something he should be concerned with…I can hear those things from all the way over here and this thing doesn't even have that much sound…!" Luke said while placing his hands over his ears to shield them.

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"Geez…!" Jack covered his ears from the screaming shadows. "I can't even hear myself think over these damn things!"

"Too loud…!" Tia groaned as she too covered her ears, wincing as her eyes closed tightly.

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"G-Gah…!?" The hooded male quickly placed his hands on his ears to shield them from the ear-drum shattering screeches. "What's up with those shadows…?!"

"They're screaming that's what!" The female replied while backing away from the noise as far as she could.

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Rogue had to protect himself (or try to) from the noise the shadows gave off. While he was doing this, one shadow managed to get ahead of him, slashing him in the chest. "GAHH!" Rogue cried out as he hit the ground, heavily damaged from the attack.

(Thank you, my shadows~) Ola smirked as she walked forward towards Rogue. (Don't worry, you put up a good fight~) With that, Ola slammed her heel into Rogue's face, rendering him unconscious.

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"Wow, she's ruthless…" Reve smirked slightly.

"Ouch…" Future Rogue felt a pain in his face from Rogue's defeat, and a sting in his arm from the gash. "Idiot…I feel what he feels…how lovely…"

"She's strong alright…" Cynthia gave a nod at Ola's victory. "Now it's my turn!" Cynthia turned to Jura, pointing directly at him. "Are you ready, Jura-san!?"

"But of course, Cynthia-dono…" Jura gave a firm nod.

"She may be strong but she won't beat Jura…" Lyon said with a nod of confidence.

"I still remember that time I accidentally took out Jura…" Chelia rubbed the back of her head rather nervously and sheepishly. "Wasn't the best time…"

"You can do it, Cynthia!" Wendy and Natsu exclaimed at the same time.

"We're gonna take this by storm!" Natsu exclaimed.

"I don't think so, Salamander…" Melody said while placing a hand on her hip. "Mermaid Heel will win this. Milliana may have dropped out, but Kagura-chan and I will be able to take it from here."

"Psh, in your dreams, Smelody!" Natsu replied.

"It's Melody!" The silver haired girl replied with an anime tick-mark on her forehead. "I had amnesia and I still remembered my name!"

"He's not good with names…" Wendy said with a sheepish smile.

"She's going up against the Wizard Saint, hm…" Taya crossed her arms and raised a brow. "I'm interested to see how this one will turn out.

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Cynthia and Jura took center stage (aka whatever spot of Clover Town that wasn't already ruined) and stood across from each other. Cynthia, though having already fought, decided (more so forced) her way into the limited spot Fairy Tail had. She was strong, so she managed to assure the others she'd be fine and not lose control. "Ready?"

"Of course…Let us begin…" Jura gave a slight nod while waiting for Cynthia to charge.

"Before I start, I'm saying thank you because if not for you I wouldn't be here today to get so strong…and now I'll show you that strength!" After Cynthia exclaimed this, her flames erupted around her body, now rushing towards Jura.

"I'm eager to see the strength you've obtained!" Jura exclaimed before pointing two fingers forward. "Iron Rock Fist!" From the ground, a large arm and fist composed of rock and iron flying towards Cynthia.

"That won't work…" Cynthia smirked as she bent her knees, jumping into the air, and on top of the fist that was meant for her, now running along the length of the arm while bringing her arm back. "Iron Fist of the Omega Fire Dragon!" Once getting towards the end of the arm, she leapt off, throwing her fist towards Jura.

"Iron Rock Wall!" Jura exclaimed once Cynthia managed to avoid the Fist. A large wall appeared before the wizard saint, only shielding him from the brunt of Cynthia's attack, shattering after. With his reflexes, Jura quickly grabbed Cynthia and hurled her into the air, causing her to spiral upwards. He then brought his hand forward and controlled the rubble from his fallen wall, now aiming to encase Cynthia in them.

"Gwah…!" Cynthia yelped as she was flung into the air, but she quickly regained herself by spinning, noticing the large amount of rock starting to surround her. With fire trailing around her arms, she began to spin around faster, creating a sort of barrier around her person as the rocks moved in, protecting her from the incoming attack. Just when she felt safe, an Iron Rock Fist slammed into her, sending her crashing into the ground.

"C-Cynthia!" Wendy squeaked once Cynthia hit the ground.

"I can't let my guard down with this one…" Jura said to himself as he didn't even wait for Cynthia to get up, he knew she would so why give her the chance? Jura extended a hand forward, causing the ground around him to split into large boulders of varying sizes, which he lifted into the air and sent all of them raining down on the downed Cynthia. "Rock Avalanche!"

"Ugh…" Cynthia was in a slight daze after hitting the ground, everything a blur for her as she looked into the sky. Slowly, everything came back into focus for her, and she realized that large boulders were coming in her direction. "G-Gah…!" Her cheeks puffed out and she unleashed a massive funnel of slightly dark red fire towards the incoming boulders, only managing to just stop them all at first before she gave it another push, now incinerating the boulders and hopping up. "Nice try!"

.

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"Man, that little girl is something else…" Jack said while watching the fight, actually showing some sort of interest. "Imagine what would've happened if we managed to snag her when we attacked Fairy Tail…all the magic King would have by now…"

"The Wizard Saint isn't bad himself…" Tia replied with a short nod. "He's quick to react, which is an important trait to have…but I don't think even he would be able to stand against Joker…He might not make it past myself, to be completely honest…"

"I think you're stroking your ego a little too much there, Sis," Jack said with a slight snicker. In the next second, Tia thwacked Jack upside the head with her scepter, an annoyed look on her face. "O-Ow!? What the hell was that for!?"

"Shut up…" Was Tia's only response

.

.

"It's time to wrap this up!" Cynthia exclaimed as the flames on her arm took the form of a dragon's head. She rushed forward while drawing said arm back. "Secret Art! Radiant Fang of the Omega Fire Dragon!"

Jura clapped his hands together once sensing the large accumulation of magic Cynthia had. He knew a powerful attack was coming and defense was his only real option. As Cynthia neared, a large rock in the shape of armor appeared around Jura defensively, its eyes glowing red. "Rock Mountain!"

"It won't work!" Cynthia roared as she threw her arm forward, a dragon's roar escaping the lips of something. The secret art slammed into the Rock Mountain, causing a devastating explosion, shaking Clover Town so vigorously that even the people inside what was left of Black Phoenix could feel it.

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"Those two are so strong...!" Chelia said while staggering to keep her balance from the rumbling earth.

"She's improved so much over the past year..." Lucy said with an awestruck smile.

"Bring it home, Cynthia!" Natsu shouted with a large grin on his face.

"Take him down, kid." Laxus said, though he refused to raise his voice like everyone else was; it wasn't his style.

"GO CYNTHIA!" Wendy cheered, quite louder than the others.

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Cynthia tumbled across the ground from the explosion, hopping up quickly. She was covered in all sorts of scratches and bruises, but that never stopped her before. "I know you're still up!" Suddenly, the ground began to rumble underneath Cynthia's feet, causing her motion sickness to kick in slightly. "E-eh..." Her face paled as she struggled to keep her balance; she knew something was about to happen.

"I must apologize, but I have to bring this battle to a swift finish! You have certainly improved, Cynthia-Dono, and I hope we can have a rematch in the future!" Jura exclaimed as a powerful burst of energy erupted from the ground, consuming Cynthia whole. "Rumbling Mt. Fuji!"

"O-okay...I take it back...he is powerful...!" Tia struggled to keep her own balance while the miniature tremor went off. As the tremor died down, Cynthia was seen face down on the ground, her clothing torn and blood running down her forehead. She laid motionless on the ground.

"C-Cynthia...!" Wendy's eyes widened at the sight before her.

"I knew she would fall to Jura..." Lyon said with his usual cocky smirk.

(This means that-) Ola started to say, but stopped as Cynthia gave the slightest movements. (Wait...)

"That attack is insanely powerful..." Future Rogue thought to himself, having never had interaction with Cynthia in his time led him to being shocked by her resilience. "She's still standing too...I don't believe this..."

Cynthia coughed up a small amount of blood, her legs shaking as she brought herself up to a stand, her black hair covering her eyes. "Sorry...did you really think that was going to finish me off...?"

"Impressive..." Jura blinked, unable to hide his astonished yet impressed face.

"Now..." Cynthia mumbled as darkened red fire flared violently around her arms. She ran forward once again, letting out a yell. "It's my turn! Secret Art: Crimson Slash of the Omega Fire Dragon!" Cynthia swung both her arms sideways, unleashing a spiraling vortex of dark red fire in Jura's direction, cleaving through the earth as it made way towards Jura.

"...!" Jura immediately placed two fingers up, creating about 10 pillars of iron and rock to protect himself from the Crimson Slash. The Crimson Slash easily cleaved through Jura's defense, and struck the Wizard Saint himself, blowing him away and through several buildings, eventually landing in KO.

(She won...?!) Ola gave a look of disbelief as she stared at the defeated Jura, unable to believe the sight.

"No way...!" Lyon's confident look turned into that of shock as the wizard saint of Lamia Scale was defeated.

"I KNEW SHE'D WIN!" Wendy exclaimed while squeezing Carla happily.

"W-Wendy...calm down...can't breath..." The exceed comically replied while her face started to turn blue from lack of air.

"S-sorry!" Wendy immediately released Carla with a sheepish grin.

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.

"...Maybe it's best we didn't capture her..." Jack said with a large sweat drop while the next math was prepared (Natsu vs. Waiston).

"She is very powerful...what on Earthland are they doing with such a mage...?" Tia raised a brow before she got an idea. "King has been looking for a particular type of magic...maybe she could help. But before I do anything else..." Tia opened up an Archive (with the use of the magic of course) and accessed the files on Fairy Tail and its mages. "This will certainly tell us more..."

"You go ahead and do that..." Jack said while turning his attention to the Fire Dragon and the Ice Dragon. "I wanna see this one."

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Natsu made the first move, wasting no time as fire covered his entire body. He first aimed a right hook towards Waiston's jaw, but the ice dragon ducked with ease. He then aimed a sweep kick towards Waiston, but the ice dragon dodged that too with a hop. "Come on!" Waiston said with a taunting tone; once he landed on the ground from his small hop, he used his magic to create a glacier that stuck Natsu directly in the chest, causing the Salamander to stumble back some. "What's wrong?!" Waiston then covered his arms in sharp, ridged ice, rushing towards Natsu while swinging his arms. "Ice Dragon's Fang!"

Natsu quickly recovered from the blow, swaying his body to the side to avoid Natsu's attack. The Salamander then landed a flaming kick to Waiston's side, causing him to stagger back. Now on the offensive again, Natsu let out a battle cry while swinging his fist towards Waiston's face. "Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!" Pow! A direct hit, Waiston flew back a few feet before catching himself with a flip.

"Tch..." Waiston could feel the burn all around his face and leg, but he kept going, stopping on the ground to send ice spikes in Natsu's direction as a distraction.

"What's wrong?" Natsu mocked Waiston's tone before turning his eyes to the ice spikes, running forward and leaping over them, though as he leapt an Ice Dragon's Roar made contact with him, causing him to hit the ground, but he caught himself on his hands and flipped up.

"Just "warming up"!" Waiston replied with a smirk.

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"Kick his ass, Waiston!" Reve shouted. "You got this!"

"Natsu's got this!" Gray shot towards Reve. "He may be a flaming idiot but he can beat your ice wizard any day of the week!"

"We're about to find out!" Kuro exclaimed in his usual cheery tone.

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.

Natsu and Waiston now met in close combat. Fire and ice fist flying towards the opposing element in unison. It seemed Waiston had the close combat advantage because his punches immediately froze the part of Natsu's body it hit, but Natsu quickly burned his way out of them. Natsu reared his arm back, throwing a heavy haymaker toward's Waiston's nose once again, but the ice dragon foresaw this and stepped on the ground, rising into the air due to a glacier. "Too slow!" Waiston exclaimed while looking down at Natsu.

"Tch!" Natsu grunted before getting an idea. He swung his leg at the base (the weakest point) of the glacier, watching as it quickly crumbled.

"Gah...!" Waiston leapt of the glacier, ice coating his legs as he aimed an axe kick towards Natsu.

"I got'cha now..." Natsu grinned to himself as he crossed his arms, blocking Waiston's strike, first ignoring his now frozen arms. He ignored them because he already had a plan in motion, and it began with fire roaring around his body. "Fire Dragon: Crimson Lotus!" Natsu swung his body around, engulfing Waiston in the flames of a dragon. When the attack was over, Waiston was on the ground in KO. "HA!"

"Told ya!" Gray grinned widely towards Reve, subconsciously stripping after, though the action only disturbed Reve.

"Weirdo..." Reve scoffed aloud before letting out a silent sigh.

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"First half of the quarter finals are done..." Jack said over to Tia, who was still doing research.

"Mhm..." Was Tia's only reply. "Interesting..."

.

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(The next match is Fairy Tail's Wendy Marvell vs. Lamia Scale's Chelia Blendy!) Ola exclaimed with her telepathy.

"A rematch?" Wendy blinked a few times as she turned to Chelia.

"I was hoping for this..." Chelia said as she stood up, walking over to Wendy. "Hey, Wendy...wanna fight using our dual modes? I think it would be a good match. Black Sky vs. Omega Flame Sky?"

Wendy pondered the thought for a moment before giving a nod, a smile gracing her lips. "Sure! Let's go, Chelia!"


	28. Chapter 27: Quarter Finals Part 2

Wendy and Chelia stood a few feet away from each other, both in their respective dual modes: Omega Flame Sky for Wendy and Black Sky for Chelia. Wendy took a step forward to even the gap…only to trip over nothing and land face first on the ground. "Oof!"

"Gah! Wendy, are you-" Chelia began as she took a step forward, only to trip over nothing like Wendy and hit the ground face first. "Oof…!"

"…Well this is a great start isn't it?" Luke sighed and shook his head as the two girls hit the ground.

"I hope the battle doesn't consist of constant tripping…" Cynthia gave a slight nervous laugh as the two slayers began to get up.

(That was mildly amusing…) Ola thought to herself while chucking, but because she had no voice box her chuckling noise only turned out to be some kind of awkward wheeze.

"Alright!" Wendy held her hands at her sides as blue wind and red fire surrounded her body. "Don't hold back on me, Chelia!"

"I wouldn't dream of it!" Chelia replied as pitch black wind surrounded her person. "Let's go!"

And thus, the battle between the two friends began. Wendy leapt into the air, her arms spread out by her sides. "Omega Flame Sky Dragon's Wing Slash!" Wendy threw her hands down, unleashing a cyclone of blue wind and red fire down towards Chelia.

Chelia held her palm out as Wendy jumped up, forming a sphere of pitch black wind. "Black Sky God's Boreas!" After she exclaimed this, she threw her hand upward, unleashing a spiraling tornado of black wind towards the Wing Slash. The two attacks collided and entered a brief stalemate before ending in a devastating explosion, blowing both the girls back.

.

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"Man…" Jack watched as the battle between Chelia and Wendy went on, somewhat impressed on how two little girls could have so much power. "Those two are pretty strong…"

"Mhm…." Tia said with a nod, half listening to Jack while continuing her archive research. "This is interesting…"

"…You're not even paying attention, are you!?" Jack shouted towards his older sibling.

"Of course I am…" Tia replied with half her attention span. "You're commenting on the battle between those two guys…"

"…I knew it. Two girls, Sis." Jack pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a mildly annoyed groaned. "Two powerful ones at that."

With a sigh, Tia closed her archive and turned her full attention to Jack and the ongoing battle, only to see a large explosion take up most of the western section of Clover Town. "Oh my…those are Omega Flames, aren't they..?"

"Looks like it." Jack replied. "Looks like everyone and their mother are getting some sort of dual modes…"

"That only makes our mission easier…" Tia responded before opening he archive once again, but she pulled up the files on the last Grand Magic Games to begin with, finding much interest with what she was looking up. "I have a small idea brewing…"

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Hyde and Knightwalker returned to their position on the top of Black Phoenix, now watching the fight between the sky dragon and sky god. Hyde's interest in the battle was far greater than the interest he showed in the others. "Heheh…"

"What's so funny?" Knightwalker asked while crossing her arms.

"The Omega Flame Sky Dragon…Witnessing her power second hand is quite incredible…" Hyde replied. "Aiden said that attaining a dual mode with Omega Flames would have been near impossible, yet this girl is walking proof of the contrary…"

"What's so intriguing about that…?" Knightwalker inquired with a brow raised.

"…Now there's something I want to see and try out…I want to see the full extent of Omega Flame Sky…" Hyde replied as a wicked grin slowly etched its way onto his features.

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By this point in the battle, both Wendy and Chelia were already moderately damaged by only just a few successful attacks. "Omega Flame Sky Dragon's Claw!" Wendy exclaimed while swinging her hand towards Chelia, a trail of blue wind and red fire following after. Chelia attempted to dodge the attack but ultimately failed, skidding back across the ground with ripping clothing. Wendy continued her assault by jumping into the air, performing an upside down kick that sent another rush of red fire and blue winds towards Chelia. "Omega Flame Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!"

"Not so fast!" Chelia replied while leaping high into the air, allowing the Crushing Fang to obliterate the ground she was standing at. Now in the air, she brought her hands above her head, creating a sphere of somewhat feathery pitch black wind. "Black Sky God's Tornado!" After throwing her hands down, Chelia unleashed a swirling pitch black tornado towards Wendy. Chelia then stuck the landing and awaited the results of her attack.

With no time, Wendy only had the time to cover up, letting out a cry as the tornado slammed into her, creating a black and windy explosion. When it all cleared, she was seen panting heavily, her damage rather high at this point. "I'm not…finished yet!" Wendy pointed her index finger up slowly, creating a cyclone of wind and red fire around Chelia which began to contract inwards. "Secret Art: Shattering Light, Flaming Sky Drill!"

Chelia's eyes widened as she fought herself trapped once again by one of Wendy's strongest attacks. There was nowhere to go, so she only had the option to cross her arms to possibly alleviate some of the damage done. It was no use; once the attack made contact with her, a powerful explosion took place, shaking Clover Town to an extent. When the smoke cleared, Chelia was hunched over, breathing heavily just as Wendy was. There was a smile on her face however; Wendy was certainly a lot stronger than their first battle. "We've both gotten stronger…But I think it's time to end this now…" Chelia said in a soft tone before puffing her cheeks out, darkness and wind surrounding her mouth in a vortex, now making a charge towards Wendy. "Black Sky God's…"

Wendy gave a nod, silently agreeing with Chelia's words. Her cheeks began to puff out as well, red fire and blue wind surrounding her mouth as she ran forward. "Omega Flame Sky Dragon's…" Once close enough the two girls unleashed their attacks simultaneously, "Roar!"

"Bellow!" The two girls opened their mouths and released their attacks. Since they were just mere feet away from each other the powerful attacks met for only a second before they exploded on each other, blowing the two sky slayer's back into the ground, both in KO, but they had a smile on their face despite that.

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(It's a tie!) Ola exclaimed throughout the minds of the others.

"Whoa…." Cynthia was awestruck by the battle displayed by her two closest friends, staring at the screen in amazement.

"Another tie…can't say I saw that one going…" Jack blinked at the result before shrugging. "Whatever…"

"Only eight matches are left…" Tia mumbled while continuing her playback of the Grand Magic Games.

"That was pretty good…" The hooded male said while chewing a little quieter (compared to previous times) on his generic brand snacks, giving a nod of approval. "Impressive power, and there's always room for improvement. The potential is certainly there."

"I agree…" The female nodded while crossing her legs. "These battles are getting really good…I'm glad we managed to witness these…"

"It was a draw…I don't see what's so interesting about that dual mode…" Knightwalker said with a clearly bored expression.

"Potential, my dear…" Hyde merely replied as the next match was about to begin.

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Luke vs. Lucina started now, the fight starting off pretty intense. Luke ran forward with fire and lightning covering his fist while Lucina morphed her arms into a crystal blade and met Luke halfway. Luke swayed his body to the left and right to avoid the slashes Lucina sent towards him; once he found an opening, he swung his left fist towards Lucina's abdomen, landing a direct hit, causing the female to stagger back. He continued the assault, now aiming a heavy haymaker towards her skull, but she dodged. "Tch…!"

As if on silent commanded, a green crystal shot forth from the ground and grazed Luke's side, catching him off guard. He turned to see what was happening, only for Lucina's next roundhouse kick to send him staggering back. "You should always be aware of your surroundings!" Lucina said in an almost ridiculing tone towards the copy mage.

"Oh yeah?!" Luke replied with a smirk, fire and lightning swirling around his mouth. With no warning, he pointed his face towards Lucina, unleashing a large funnel of fire and lightning towards the female.

"Ah…!" Lucina let out a quiet yelp before jumping off to the side to avoid the large funnel; problem was her arm was caught in the blast and it sent her flying back into the remains of a fallen building.

"Ha!" Luke smirked and rubbed his mouth after his attack hit. When Lucina got up, his eyes widened as he saw Lucina with only one arm now. "AHH!"

"Huh…?" Lucina looked at her arm with a nonchalant expression. "Oh." Crystals formed around her arm before reconstructing it, bringing it back to normal. "Nothing to worry about! Well, for me, anyway. You won't be the Crystal Phoenix so easily…" Lucina stepped on the ground, sending a trail of green crystal spikes towards Luke, but before they reached him it split off into two trails, now circling around him.

"What…?" Luke realized he was circled by the green crystals. "What is she planning…?" His question was answered rather quickly by the rising Crystal sphere that suddenly appeared around him, lifting him off into the sky. "EH?!" Not only this, but two crystal clones of Lucina appeared in the sphere to distract Luke in close combat as the sphere now descended to the ground.

"Get out of that, Luke!" Selene shouted.

"He'll be fine…" Saeko said with a nod of confidence.

"Senpai can make it out of that!" Asami said with a tone full of confidence.

"This is the end!" Lucina exclaimed as the crystal sphere hit the ground, causing a large explosion upon impact, green crystal shards raining from the sky. "Heh…I knew I'd win. It was only logical…."

A few moments passed before an injured Luke dashed from the smoke, his arm pulled back as a black sphere began to form on it. "Black God's Bomb!"

"Wh-?!" Lucina's eyes widened as she spotted Luke incoming, but he was too fast for her to keep up with. Luke slammed the bomb into Lucina's abdomen, causing a large black explosion to send Lucina flying away, her skin now cracking (because golem) as she hit the ground. She brought herself up slowly, almost unable to see anything through the black smoke caused from the bomb.

"Checkmate…" Luke thought to himself as he crouched down. He had Lucina's location pinpointed. Ice blades appeared on his arm and his other arm's elbow, black energy surging through them seconds after. "Darkness Blade: Seven Sided Dance!" Luke yelled as he lunged forward, spinning around while doing so. He reached Lucina within seconds, slashing a total of seven times, landing behind her in a crouched position after the seventh hit. Lucina hit the ground; unconscious after Luke was finished, leaving the copycat with a victorious smirk. "I win."

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The third to last match of the quarter finals was up next; Leon Shi vs. Melody Sliver. Kagura gave Melody some advice before taking on Leon, so it was a wonder how this match could turn out. The two decided it didn't matter where they began because the town was bound for utter destruction by the time the tournament was over. "Are you ready?" Leon asked while jogging in place, giving his usual smile towards the Silver Make mage.

"Ready when you are, Leon." With a nod, Melody placed her fist into her palm, deciding to take the first move. "Sliver Make: Arrows!" A sliver circle appeared before the female, unleashing a barrage of sliver arrows in Leon's direction, covering a wide radius which limited the acid dragon's ability to dodge ground wise.

Leon hoped this would be a promising battle. At the sight of the arrows, he saw a quick way out of most of them. He puffed his cheeks out, pointing his face towards one end of the incoming arrows. "Acid Dragon's Roar!" After exclaiming this Leon opened his mouth and sent a vortex of green acid towards the arrows, moving his head over while doing so to melt the sliver that came his way. He got most of the arrows, but two of them managed to graze his arms.

Melody remained calm as Leon countered her first attack; she figured this would be the result. She placed her fist into her palm once again, creating a silver magic seal underneath Leon. "Silver Make: Pillar!"

"Huh…?" Leon looked down, just noticing the magic seal. With the quickness, Leon jumped to the side, but his legs were caught as the sliver pillar rose, causing him to tumble across the broken stone road before hopping up, noticing another attack coming.

"Silver Make: Axe!" Melody yelled as she jumped into the air, now holding a large, sliver axe in her hand, aiming this axe towards Leon once swinging down.

Leon clapped his hands on the sides of the axe just before it hit him, the ground under him cratering from the sheer force Melody was putting into her attacks. "Wow, you're fast and strong!" Leon said, clearing showing Melody how impressed he was with her skill in battle. "I guess I should've warned you I wasn't going to hold back, huh? Acid Drive!" With this, a green aura exploded around Leon, immediately covering his body with acid which quickly began to eat away at the sliver axe.

"Tch…!" Melody grunted before opting to abandon her axe, jumping back a few feet to gain distance from Leon.

"Melody seems to be having a hard time…" Trinity said while giving a nod. "Good, Leon is no easy opponent."

"Don't be so sure she's out of this yet…" Kagura replied to Trinity without even facing him. "She's focused on her opponent, watching his every move and deciding when to move and when to not."

Leon held two spheres of energy in his hands, throwing them both forward one after another towards Melody, turning into spiraling beams of acid midway. "Acid Dragon's Corroding Beam!"

"Sliver Make: Wall!" Melody threw her hands up, creating a large wall of sliver before her. She also jumped back because she knew the sliver wall would fail, and it did just that. The first beam of acid blew through the wall, creating a large hole in it. "Shit…" Melody braced for impact; the second beam landing a direct hit on her, burning her clothing and skin as she tumbled across the ground, writhing in pain. "D-Dammit…!"

Leon continued, jumping on the top of the sliver wall and leaping off after, now high in the air above Melody. A green sphere of energy appeared in Leon's mouth as he aimed his face towards Melody. "Acid Dragon's Wave!" And just like in his fight with Sting, Leon sent pure destruction in the form of an acid wave towards the downed Melody. Melody was defenseless against the wave, though she tried to roll out of the way, the effort was in vain. A green explosion occurred just a foot or so away from her, knocking her out almost instantly.

"You were saying?" Trinity asked with a slight smirk towards the Mermaid Heel ace.

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"Taya's up next again?" Nami asked while looking towards Reve. "Why aren't you going Reve?"

"The incident last night…" Reve replied with a slight "tch". "I wanted to go, but Taya seemed intent on bringing this one home, so I let her."

"Isn't she still injured?" Selene asked while crossing her arms.

"I don't think so…They both might be, I'm not even sure." Reve replied. "Doesn't matter, either way we've got this."

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"Shall we begin?" Taya asked while clicking her heels on the ground. "Actually, are you sure you're even well enough to fight?"

"I'm fine," Kagura replied rather shortly, as always. She pulled out her sheathed blade, internally thanking Tristan for fixing it for her before the match.

"A sword hm…?" Taya merely shrugged before pulling her hands in front of her, creating a sword of pitch black darkness, wielding it with one hand now. "Ruinous Blade."

"She has a sword too…?" Cynthia blinked repeatedly. "She has a lot to offer…"

"Hmph…" Kagura closed her eyes before bending her knees, first activating her Gravity Change magic on herself to lighten her weight and boost her speed. She had somewhat of a slow start because she wasn't fully healed, but she dashed forward anyway, preparing to strike Taya within mere seconds.

Taya was quick to notice the speed Kagura took off at, but she also noticed the slow start as well. Something that played to her advantage. She could make this a quick battle and move on, and she planned to do just that. As Kagura swung her blade, Taya did the same, the two blades clashing in a stalemate. "Heh…" Taya smirked before a vector protruded from her abdomen, striking Kagura in her injured chest area, causing her to wince and step back. "Remember I did ask you~" She cooed before moving forward, aiming a skillful flurry of slashes towards the Mermaid Ace.

Kagura had no reply, she knew what she was doing and she was okay with the choice she made. She swiftly avoided each and every slash thrown by Taya before activating her Gravity Change once more, causing the gravity around Taya to increase tenfold, bringing her to a standstill. Now, Kagura jumped up with her hands on the hilt of the sword, swinging it down towards Taya, aiming to crush her with her form change.

"Tch…" Taya realized her movement options were limited with the increased gravity, so she thought quickly before protruding a vector from her abdomen once again, using it to push herself out of the way by a foot or so. It helped, but it didn't help against the impact caused by Kagura's sheathed blade, which cratered the ground a few feet, causing her to tumble away for a few yards before coming to a stop. Taya pointed her hands forward now, creating a Shadow Sphere within them. "Shadow Sphere!" She sent the moderately sized sphere of shadows forward towards Kagua, who had little time to dodge.

Gravity Change came in handy for the most part, but with her current position, there wasn't much for Kagura to do. She brought her sword up defensively, allowing the Shadow Sphere to slam into it. The impact sent her sliding across Clover Town a good distance, stopping once her back hit a building. She grunted softly upon impact, feeling a stinging sensation in her chest from her injury from Selene. "I'll just have to wrap this up…" She then looked up, noticing a magic seal above her person, which was already dropping a "twilight rain" onto her. With agile movements, she dashed to the side, just avoiding the Twilight Rain; however she was caught by a vector, landing a direct hit onto her side, causing her to stumble back once again. Kagura recovered quickly, her Gravity Change shifting the gravity to be lighter around her. Thanks to this, she was able to speed past Taya, landing a powerful slash on her side.

"Tch…I'm sorry, but I'll have to make this quick…" Taya said while turning and creating about three vectors total, sending them all towards Kagura in a quick attempt to grab and immobilize her. Only one of her vectors managed to grab her arm, but that was all she needed to activate their secondary effect, cutting off the brain signals to Kagura's arm. Next, she used her vector to flip Kagura onto her back, creating a shadow sphere in her free hand (though it was half size and half power) and threw it towards the Mermaid Ace. With no time to respond, the Shadow Sphere exploded on contact, creating a small explosion (due to the cut power) that engulfed Kagura. When the smoke cleared, Kagura was still standing, though she was leaning on her blade for support. Her battered and bloodied body refused to quit. She pulled out blade out of the sheath and dashed forward once again, landing another slash on Taya (who was surprised by the Mermaid's tenacity) and remained in a finished slashing position after. Moments passed before Taya fell to her knees, but Kagura was the one who lost consciousness first.

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"Demons are something else…" Jack let out an exasperated sigh once the battle was finished. "I wonder how' she'd fair against Heartless…"

"Statistics say that after this analysis she'd fall…" Tia replied, referring to her archive as a source of information.

"Sounds about right…" Jack replied with a shrug, leaning on the roof after. "One match left before things get down to the wire.

"Watch this one carefully, Jack," Tia said in a stern tone while keeping her eyes glued to her informational source. "Black Phoenix's Ace vs. Fairy Tail's Erza Scarlet…Though the battle seems in Tristan's favor, those Fairies have a knack for pulling out a win, especially her. Her loss record is almost spotless."

"The only time they couldn't pull off a win was against Joker…and if she can't do so here then they have no chance of defeating Dealer…" Jack said while a small grin made its way onto his face. "I'm looking forward to seeing how this match plays out…"

.

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Erza and Tristan took the stage, both standing a few yards away from each other. The tension was thick enough to be sliced with a sword which would soon happen. "Are you ready, Erza-san?" Tristan asked while placing his fist into his palm.

"I'm ready." Erza gave a nod as a heavenly light bathed her body, her Flight Armor now equipped.

"Steel Make: Knight's Armor!" Upon calling this out, Tristan's body covered head to toe in his signature custom armor. "Steel Make: Sword and Shield!" And after that, Tristan created a signature sword and shield appeared in his hands. "Let us begin!"

"Very well!" Erza exclaimed before dashing forward, appearing as nothing but a blur to the untrained eye. "Sonic Slash!" With her speed, Erza was easily able to land the first hit, though it wasn't effective as she wanted as her slashes' power were cut from the armor on Tristan's body. She turned, sliding across the dirt road now as she awaited Tristan's response. It was just as she thought, Tristan was pretty much unaffected by it. "That armor…"

Tristan placed his fist into his palm, creating a sliver magic seal in front of him. "Steel Make: Lance!" Steel lances rocketed out of the magic seal and raced towards Erza.

Erza prepared herself, bringing her sword up to parry the incoming lances away while making an advance towards Tristan. Once close enough, she swung her sword down at the knight, but he brought his shield up just in time to block the attack. (He reacts fast too…) Erza then noticed that her opponent's sword was coming her way, so she jumped back into the air, a bright light wrapping around her body once more; her Heaven's Wheel armor. A ring of blades appeared around Erza as she continued to ascend into the air. "Dance my blades!" And dance they did; on command the blades flew towards Tristan.

"She is a powerful opponent alright…" Tristan said with a slight grin forming on his lips. He brought his shield up, allowing most of the swords to impale the shield. For the other swords, he used his own to parry them away, but one slipped through and pierced his side, breaking that part of his armor. "…!"

Erza now flew forward with two blades held in an "X" position. When she was close, she slashed in the pattern of a Pentagram, the shape showing as she landed a direct hit on Tristan, causing him to let out a grunt of pain. "Pentagram Sword!"

"Yeah, kick his ass, Erza!" Natsu roared as he jumped from his seat. "Your ace is going down!"

'Tristan-senpai is pretty strong, you know!" Leon replied while giving his smile. "Your friend is going to have a hard time."

"What he said," Trinity said with a nod.

"Just watch!" Lucy said with a confident nod, her body now wrapped in bandages after her bout with Yukino. "Erza will pull out a win!"

"Heaven's Wheel!" Ezra exclaimed, creating a multitude of about 120 swords above her head, all pointed at Tristan down below. She threw her arms forward, sending the sword raining down on Tristan.

"Steel Make: Wall!" A large steel wall appeared before Tristan, blocking about 80 swords. The wall was unable to withstand the 81st, so it shattered and he put up his own shield to defend against the attack, blocking about 20 other swords. The rest of the swords were too much and they clashed against his armor, sparks flying from the collision of metal and created a smoke cloud around him.

"What happened to him…" Erza kept a careful eye out in the smoke cloud around Tristan. In the next second, Tristan appeared behind Erza with a new weapon: Morning Star. He slammed the weapon into Erza's back, causing an agonizing yell to escape her lips before she hit the ground. Tristan landed, his armor cracked somewhat from the swords.

"Erza…!" Gray shouted once Erza hit the ground.

Not even seconds passed before Erza lunged from the smoke in her Morning Star armor, pointing her two swords forward as energy was nearly finished charging on them. "Venus Photon Slicer!" Erza pointed her swords forward, consuming Tristan in a powerful blast that send him hurtling backwards. As Tristan flew back, his armor shattered, revealing his bruised body. He flipped and caught himself, obviously impressed with Erza.

"Nto bad, Erza-san…" Tristan said while giving a nod of approval, his fist meeting his palm once more. "But, I wonder how you will fare against this…Steel Make: Ballista, Archery Battalion!" Before Tristan appeared multiple ballistae, all holding a large amount of steel arrows on them. On command, the ballistae unleashed the arrows into the air, raining down a large amount towards Erza.

"Kanso!" Erza exclaimed as the light once again bathed her body. She now appeared in her Adamantine armor, and used the highly defensive to shield herself from the arrows successfully. She separated her arms after the attack was finished and looked towards Tristan with a smirk. "Well, Tristan? Do you think you have anything that can break this armor?"

"The infamous Adamantine armor…" Tristan said to himself as he gazed at the armor around the vermillion knight. "I didn't want to have to use this…but congratulations, Erza-san…you are the first person who has brought me to this…" Tristan clapped his hands together, teleporting a sword from his secret armory into the sky. It was a finely crafted blade at that. "This is Excalibur. Do you think you can withstand its power?"

"Don't hold back on me…" Was Erza's reply.

"Very well…" Tristan clapped his hands together once again, sending the black rocketing down towards the defending Erza. When the blade struck the armor, an explosion of raw magical energy erupted, covering about half of Clover Town in the process.

"ERZA!" Lucy's eyes widened from the deafening explosion.

When the smoke from the explosion cleared, Erza was on her back, her armor shattered and her body heavily injured almost critical condition. Her breathing was light, and it didn't look like she would be getting up any time soon. "…"

"…I warned her…" Tristan said while shaking his head with a sigh, wincing from his injuries. He then began to walk over towards her, but stopped when he noticed her body moving slightly…she was twitching. "What…?"

"No way…" Trinity's eyes narrowed as his eyes locked on Erza. "She shouldn't be able to move after something like that…"

Erza's body wrapped itself in another yellow light. When it faded, her hair was back in a ponytail, cloth over her chest, and only pants as her clothing. She also held a singular sword in her hand as she brought herself up. "I'm not…Finished yet…"

"She's up…!" Gray exclaimed, somewhat surprised but not at the same time.

"She's on her last leg…" Reve stated aloud to set nervousness into Fairy Tail. They already knew it, but Reve's statement added a sort of tension that wasn't quite necessary but was at the same time.

"This is when Erza is at her best…" Cynthia said with a nod. "She won't lose…"

"Oh…looks like things are about to get interesting…" Knightwalker's attention on the battle skyrocketed immediately.

"Yo, sis! This is about to get intense…!" Jack shouted, desperately grabbing at Tia's attention.

"I've been watching…" Tia replied, her tone making it sound like she wasn't interested, but she damn sure was. "Is the scarlet flower of Fairy Tail going to bloom…or will it wilt…?"

"You still have some fight left in you…?" Tristan raised a brow, but he was quite impressed nonetheless. "Very well…I'm afraid I have to end it here, Titania…I hope we can have a rematch in the future…" Tristan's fist met with his palm once again. "Steel Make: Ballista!" Once again, a steel ballista appeared before Tristan, carrying with it 4 enlarged steel arrows, all he figured he needed. "Fire!" The four arrows were fired off about 10 seconds after each other, now racing towards Titania.

"Here we go…!" Natsu said while clutching the railing rather tightly.

"Be careful Tristan…" Hikaru mumbled under her breath. She knew Erza was a powerful opponent, but even she wasn't sure what Erza could pull off at this moment.

Erza pushed herself forward, her grip on the sword tight. At the first arrow, she swung her sword diagonally cleaving through the first arrow. She had little time for the second one, so she shifted her body to the right, wincing as the large arrow grazed her side, drawing a large amount of blood. The third arrow she sliced right through, but the fourth was what got it, impacting her shoulder, drawing forth a large gash. She let out a yelp of pain and lost momentum as she began to stumble forward, Tristan just waited for her to fall. "Not yet…" Erza thought to herself as she straightened her body now, keeping a firm grip on her blade despite her condition.

"No way…" Tristan just stood in shock as Erza made it through his assault despite her condition, she truly was amazing.

"The battle ends now…!" Erza shouted at the top of her lungs, raising her blade and slashing Tristan across the chest in a diagonal manner, sliding behind him after in a crouched position after. Both remained still for what seemed like minutes, no one dared to make a move, not even the wind. Silence filled the air until….Erza fell face first on the ground, unconscious.

"Erza…!" Fairy Tail shouted in unison.

(My, my…that was incredible close…) Ola said while letting out a heavy sigh.

"I enjoyed being your opponent…" Tristan said while looking over his shoulder. He smiled because he had an excellent fight, and wouldn't have been upset at the outcome. He took a step forward, but his eyes widened as soon as it happened. Erza's slash was a delayed one, and a critical one. Tristan collapsed on the ground unconscious himself.

"W-Whoa!? What happened?!" Leon frantically looked towards Ola and Trinity after Tristan collapsed.

"A delayed attack…" Trinity replied while nodding. "Her timing was off…but that was a brilliant idea…"

"She still lost…" Reve pointed out.

"But judging by that wound, it looks like Tristan won't be able to continue either…" Hikaru replied to Reve.

(Retrieve them…tomorrow we will start what I hope will end the tournament…we need to treat the wounded tonight.) With a nod, Ola stood up.

.

.

"I haven't seen Scarlet fight so hard in such a long time…I honestly thought she was going to win that…" Knightwalker said while sighing somewhat.

"It was most impressive, even I have to admit…With willpower like that, I'm worried she'll tarnish my beautifully crafted script…" Hyde said while tapping his cane to his head in deep thought.

"Don't worry about her…just let me take care of it when the time comes…" Knightwalker replied in a reassuring, yet dark tone of voice, a smirk appearing on her lips as always, the thought of rematching Scarlet excited her.

"WOW…" The hooded male was clearly amazed at Erza's performance. "She is powerful!"

"I told you the battle was going to be good…and I told you she was impressive…" The female replied with a slight grin. "She never fails to disappoint when it comes to fighting."

"You were right," The male replied with a shrug.

"Man, oh man…" Jack blinked at the end result of the battle. "Didn't think she was that tenacious…"

"I'm surprised as well…" Tia shook her head slowly to get over her shock. "No matter…we have a strong amount of data on everyone by this point…let's see who ends up winning, ne?"

"Sounds good to me…" Jack kicked back and looked into the sky. "I can tell tomorrow's gonna be good…."


	29. Chapter 28: Semi Finals

Cynthia vs. Tayakata, Ola vs. Luke, and Natsu vs. Leon; these were the three matches that would probably end the tournament today. So far, it looked as though it could be anyone's win, and the way the previous matches played out only added to this fact. The first match was Cynthia vs. Tayakata, another Fairy Tail vs. White Eclipse match. Cynthia defeated two of Lamia Scale's members, Raven and Jura, while Tayakata defeated Fairy Tail's lightning dragon and the ace of Mermaid Heel. This match was bound to be interesting to say the very least. Clover Town was just about demolished by this point, so it didn't really matter where they began. Cynthia stretched for a few minutes before looking over at Taya. "Are you ready…?"

"Of course…" Taya replied with a nod, her arms folded over her chest.

"She doesn't stand a chance…" Reve said with a confident smirk.

"We'll see about that." Wendy replied to Reve's statement.

"This should be a good one…" Jack nodded.

"Here we go!" Cynthia exclaimed while blasting forward, red flames appearing on her feet (giving her a speed boost) as she rushed towards Taya. When she was close, she flipped forward and aimed her feet at Taya's head in an axe-kick like motion. "Twin Talons!"

Taya remained calm as Cynthia charged forward; when she saw the girl flip, she brought forth a vector from her abdomen to block the attack, though the ground under her feet caved in an inch or too. Cynthia flipped back from the attack, but that left her open as Taya sent another vector forward, hitting Cynthia directly in the chest which caused the young dragon to tumble across the ground. "I'm not letting you do anything…" Taya said while using a few vectors to pin Cynthia to the ground, preparing a Shadow Sphere in her hand. Her plan was to first weaken, then disable Cynthia for the win.

"G-Gah…!" Cynthia struggled to move against the vectors that held her down before she got an idea. She puffed her cheeks out and forced her head into the ground, letting out a muffled. "Roar of the Omega Fire Dragon!" which resulted in an eruption of dark red flames to sprout from the ground, blowing Taya away by a few yards, the vectors releasing. "Ha…!" Cynthia then decided to keep her offensive momentum, raising her hands above her head to create a giant sphere of red fire. "Radiant Blaze of the Omega Fire Dragon!" Cynthia exclaimed while hurling the sphere in Taya's general direction.

Taya's swiftness came into play here. First, she stepped to the side while running forward, completely avoiding the blaze which exploded behind her. She still had the Shadow Sphere in her hands, so she threw it forward towards Cynthia once she was about 20 feet away from the dragon slayer. "Shadow Sphere!"

"Eep…!" Cynthia crossed her arms, taking the brunt of the Shadow Sphere. The force was powerful enough to cause her to slide back a good 10 yards, her arms bruised from defending against such an attack. "Ouch…" Snapping out of her quick fit of pain, Cynthia jumped onto the remains of a building before leaping even higher into the air, her arms spread out. "Omega Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" After she threw her arms down, unleashing multiple waves of red fire down towards Taya.

"Persistent…" Taya mumbled before bringing up four vectors in front of her to protect herself from the onslaught of red fire. She grunted as she slid back from the force of the Wing Attack, feeling the intense burns on her shoulders. When it subsided, she let down her vectors, only to see an incoming Cynthia now.

With red fire focused around her fist, Cynthia lunged towards Taya from above, a large smirk on her face. "Iron Fist of the Omega Fire Dragon!" She swung her fist, landing a direct hit on Taya's nose. But Taya was quick to retaliate, and instead of staggering back, she landed her own hit on Cynthia's nose, causing her to stumble back with a grunt. "Oof…!" Now it was time to hand to hand combat, something Taya proved to be rather proficient in. Cynthia swung a flaming hook for Taya's jaw, but the demon blocked it by raising her forearm. Taya countered by raising her knee into Cynthia's stomach, but Cynthia blocked by raising her own knee, wincing because the collision was off for the both of them and they ended up hopping around on one leg in a comical manner for a few seconds. "Ow ow ow!"

"Who taught you how to fight…!?" Taya groaned before things got serious again. She brought two vectors from her front and slammed them into Cynthia's gut, causing Cynthia to fly back from the force put behind them.

"Gah…!" Cynthia yelped when she was hit. She was flying towards a building, but she flipped and caught herself, her feet now planted firmly on the buildings side. She shifted her momentum from her body to her feet and flew off the building, slightly darkened red fire now coating her body as she aimed herself head first at Taya. "Omega Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!" Cynthia's speed was inconvincible; she slammed right into Taya's gut, sending the dark vector demon flying back into the remains of the bakery. Cynthia flipped after impact, feeling quite proud of herself for that maneuver. "Aheh…sorry Natsu I took another one of your moves…"

Taya picked herself up from the rubble, her hair now covering her face. Her clothing was burnt and tattered and burn marks were all over her skin. "Twilight Rain…" A magic seal appeared above Cynthia, unleashing a "rain" onto her.

"AH!" Cynthia squealed as she covered up from the rain, slowly taking step backs to remove herself from its range. While this happened, a Shadow Sphere slammed into her, sending her soaring high into the sky after.

"Cynthia…!" Wendy shouted in a clear worried tone.

It wasn't long before Cynthia hit the ground, letting out a yelp of pain after. She took a while to get up, and when she did, Taya was standing just a few feet away from her. "Y-You're really strong…" Cynthia said with a hint of admiration in her voice. She stood up, dark red flames blazing around her arms. "Secret Art: Crimson Slash!" Cynthia swiped her arms in a clockwise motion, sending a blazing vortex of dark red fire towards Taya that ripped through the already broken earth with no trouble at all. Taya attempted to defend the Crimson Slash, but she failed and the attack consumed her whole, a faint shriek of pain escaping her lips. "I got her…!"

Not even seconds passed before Taya revealed herself to be standing after the attack finished. She was hunched over and breathing heavily, her hair hiding the sly smirk on her face. "On your toes…"

"Huh…?" Cynthia blinked a few times at Taya's mumble, more surprised that she was standing than anything else. Just then, a vector struck Cynthia's temple, causing her eyes to roll to the back of her head while she fell unconscious…but not before snapping her fingers, causing a multitude of red magic seals to appear around Taya.

"Wha?" Taya started with wide eyes, but before she could do anything the circles unleashed destructive waves of red that exploded on impact. When the smoke cleared, she too was lying unconscious on the ground.

(A draw…) Ola blinked a few times at the end result.

"Ha!" Jack bursts out laughing. "She can't even beat a little girl!"

"You do realize that little girl has the potential to end everyone right…?" Tia asked while raising a brow.

"Well…" Jack stopped laughing and instead just looked away. "Shut up…"

.

.

Luke vs. the master of Black Phoenix, Ola Belle. Needless to say Luke knew he was going to have a tough time with this, but he had to give it his all. "Well, guess I was pretty lucky in this matchup, eh?" Luke asked while stretching.

(This will be a good match, I hope) Ola said while gesturing for Luke to come at her.

"As do I!" Luke then slammed his fist into his palm, a cold wind surrounding his ankles. "Ice Make: Freeze Lancer!" Luke threw his hands forward, unleashing a plethora of enlarged ice lances towards the Master Phoenix. Ola smirked, quickly flipping her hair behind her ear. She ran forward, showcasing her agility. She swayed from side to side, avoiding most of the lances that came her way, though two just barely grazed her arms; nothing too serious for her. She then preformed a backflip, aiming the heel of her heel at Luke's head. "Oi…!" Luke jumped back just as Ola's heel struck the ground, cratering the ground about five feet.

(Surprised~?) Ola asked with a slight smirk, flipping back up with a grin. Luke decided to test the close combat waters, so he rushed forward with fire and lightning around his fist, aiming a plethora of punches towards Ola's face and midsection. Ola was quite proficient in hand to hand, managing to block or dodge most of Luke's attack. She countered with her own, landing a few hits on the copy mage's stomach and face, causing him to back off.

While Luke jumped back, fire and lightning surrounded his mouth in the form of a vortex. "Roar of the Lightning Flame Dragon!" Luke opened his mouth and unleashed the dual funnel a near point blank range. Ola was prepared, bringing up her arms, thus bringing up a shadow all to protect herself from the attack, skidding backwards across the ground a few yards. Her defense aggravated Luke a bit, but he was up against a Master after all.

(Defense is the best offense.) Ola replied once noticing Luke's slightly annoyed expression. She smirked, waiting for Luke to make his next move.

"Hmph…" Luke placed his hands on the ground, covering a large second of Clover Town in slippery ice. "Ice Make: Floor!" Ola stumbled around a bit to keep her balance; this was Luke's chance to get some damage in. Blades of ice appeared on Luke's arm and elbow, using the ice to skate forward. "Ice Blade: Seven Sided Dance!" Luke then leapt forward, spinning around while aiming seven slashes towards Ola. Despite the ice, Ola was able to dodge about five of the seven, though the other two landed on her stomach and her arm. Luke landed behind her in a crouched position, sliding across the ice to gain some distance.

Ola was highly annoyed now with the gashes on her arm, a different side of her about to show. (You…You dare to injure me like so?!)

"Uh-oh…" Luke thought as he turned around, noticing her enraged demeanor now. Though this was hardly a time to be afraid. Fire surrounded Luke's arm, and he raised it up before slamming it into the ice, sending pillars of fire traveling towards Ola.

(…) Ola created a screaming shadow, one that clearly displayed her rage. It let out a loud shriek that caused everyone to cover their ears, though it was short lived as it took a fire pillar, dispersing quickly after. Since Luke was distracted, Ola used this time to skate across the ice that wasn't destroyed, taking Luke off guard by trapping him in close combat, landing powerful blows on his body before she ended with a roundhouse, kicking him away with force, causing him to slide across the dirt road on his back with a groan.

While on the ground, Luke snapped his fingers, quickly, creating a magic seal under Ola's feet. This seal unleashed a discharge of electricity which was meant to paralyze her, but Ola formed a shadow hand and used it to propel herself into the air at the last second, avoiding the electricity overall. She landed on the ground, regaining some of her senses before smirking. (Not bad, Luke…but I'll be wrapping this up now…) Ola raised her hands, and her shadow rose into the sky, taking the shape of a Black Phoenix, which let out a loud shriek once it was summoned.

"Whoa…" Cygnus blinked quite a few times at the large bird.

"Didn't think he'd push her to use that…" Hikaru said to herself.

"That is a really big bird…" Jack stared in awe.

"Heh…" Luke smirked as darkness covered half his body, and light covered the other. Not only this, but a black sword appeared in his hands as he took a stance. "Alright…come at me…" The Phoenix complied, flying towards Luke at a relatively low altitude. Luke did the same, rushing towards the phoenix with his sword in hand. Before meeting the Phoenix halfway, Luke preformed a baseball slide, sliding under the stomach of the Phoenix. While doing this, he stabbed his sword into the Phoenix's stomach which caused a large explosion, dealing with the shadow creation before it became a threat. Ola, who was watching this was annoyed at how easily Luke got rid of her phoenix, but his position was horrible for recovery. Ola grinned and merely stepped on the ground, sending a shadow spike through Luke's side, causing him to stop and groan in agony.

"Luke…!" Selene exclaimed.

After a few moments, Luke picked himself up, blood covering his lower left side. "D-Damn…you're strong alright…"

(As are you…) Ola replied before launching herself in the air, creating about three shadow blades. She sent these blades towards the injured Luke, feeling this might finish the battle.

"Now it's time…for me to show you a power that no one has seen yet!" Luke exclaimed as the colors on his body intensified, magical power exploding around him. "Second Origin!" As the Shadow Blades came towards him, Luke formed two large spheres of darkness and light on his hands, merging them together over his head to create a black and white sphere. "BOMB OF THE BLACK AND WHITE GOD!" Luke threw the dual sphere into the air, such an attack surprising Ola because she had never seen such a thing before. She braced for impact as the bomb showcased its awesome power in the form of a black and white mushroom cloud; the explosion was so powerful it even got Luke. When the mushroom cloud died down, both Luke and Ola were lying on the ground, conscious, but heavily damaged. It was a tie.

"He tied with Master…?" Trinity was quite impressed.

"Go Luke!" Aira exclaimed with a smile.

"Not bad…" Reve said with a nod of his own.

"Wait…so that means that the next match is the finals…" Gray said while turning his head to Natsu, but he was already gone while Luke and Ola were brought into Black Phoenix by Hikaru and Selene.

"Leon's gone too…" Trinity pointed out.

.

.

Natsu and Leon stood in the center of what used to be Clover Town, grins on their faces. Natsu's body immediately lit up with flames as he stared Leon down. "I've been waiting for this…"

"So have I…" Leon replied with a grin, though his expression was far more serious than before. A green aura exploded from around Leon's body, corroding the ground around him from the acid. "Acid Drive…"

"Oh. It's the final match…Natsu vs. Leon…" Tia said while showing a little interest in the match. "This promises to be good…"

"I'm warning you, Leon!" Natsu declared before starting. "I'm not gonna hold back on you!"

"Good…" Leon replied as his hair created a shadow over his glowing green eyes. "Because I won't be holding back on you either, Salamander…"


	30. Chapter 29: Natsu vs Leon!

"Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu roared out as he swung his flaming fist towards Leon's jaw. Leon, with the boost of his Acid Drive, dodged the hit easily by leaning back. Natsu immediately followed up with a flaming sweep kick to Leon's ankles, but Leon dodged this too by jumping back. Finally, Natsu shifted his momentum from the sweep kick by spinning on the ground, flipping himself up, aiming another fiery haymaker towards Leon's nose. Boom, a direct hit, the momentum was key. Leon staggered back from the blow before catching himself. "Tch…" Natsu felt a burn on his knuckles, most likely from Leon's acid. That was going to be an issue as long as Natsu wanted to continue using close combat. Screw issues, this was Natsu. He ran forward once again, his entire body covered in fire. "Talons!" Natsu spun around, aiming a flaming roundhouse towards Leon's side.

"Too slow…" Leon replied while leaning his body back, Natsu fiery leg soaring over his body. Leon could feel the intense heat coming from Natsu's leg as it just grazed his shirt. Now it was Leon's turn; acid covered his hand which he held forward. "Acid Palm." A large burst of green acid erupted from Leon's hand, blowing Natsu a great distance away, a green smoke cloud following the Salamander.

"Natsu…!" Lucy squeaked as Natsu flew back.

Natsu caught himself by flipping in the air, his feet planting firmly into the ground to halt his sliding momentum. By the time he regained his balance, Leon was already coming at him with another move. "Acid Dragon's Steel Fist!" Leon swung his fist down towards Natsu, but Natsu jumped back just in time, leaving the ground to shatter at Leon's attack.

"Eyah!" Natsu exclaimed while swinging his leg towards Leon's skull, but he just missed, the flames burning off Leon's hair.

"Ha!" Leon exclaimed as well, aiming another Acid Dragon's Steel fist towards Natsu's chest, but Natsu instead grabbed Leon's arm and flipped him over, his cheeks puffing out.

"Roar of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu roared while unleashing his signature roar, a funnel of red flames crashing down on Leon while Natsu used the momentum from the roar to push himself back and gain distance.

Leon's body now had burn marks all over his body, but this wasn't even close to stopping him. He grinned towards Natsu, admiring the strength of the Salamander before running forward, two spheres of green energy in his palms. "Acid Dragon's Double Corroding Missile!" Leon threw the two spheres towards Natsu simultaneously, the two beams merging into a larger one as it ate at the ground it traveled just feet over.

As soon as Leon formed the two spheres, Natsu did the same, only it was a singular sphere. Natsu placed his hands over his head and jumped into the air, creating an enlarged sphere of orange fire above his head. "Dazzling Blaze of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu yelled as he hurled the blazing sphere towards Leon's double corroding beams, not even waiting to watch as the two attacks entered a struggle. Natsu landed just behind where the two magical attacks were, and began running forward, only to be caught in their explosion.

"Natsu!" Happy flailed as he watched his partner consumed in the explosion.

"You got this, Leon!" Trinity exclaimed.

"You can do it, Leon!" Lucina shouted at the lacrima screen.

"Kick his ass flame brain!" Gray yelled.

"You got this, Natsu-san!" Sting cheered.

Not even seconds after the explosion did Natsu come charging out, head first with flames covering his body; he used the momentum from the explosion to boost his own. "Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!" Before Leon even had a chance to react, Natsu impacted his gut rather forcefully, winding the acid dragon as he flew back from the impact, crashing into the remains of a building. Natsu smirked despite feeling the sting of the acid from Leon's Acid Drive.

Only five seconds did Leon emerge from the now corroded remains of the building, though his cheeks were puffed out. "Acid Dragon's Roar!" Leon opened his mouth, sending a vortex of acid hurlting towards Natsu.

"Guh!" Natsu's eyes widened at the speed the roar traveled before he dove to the side, just narrowly avoiding the roar that melted the ground he was standing at.

"Acid Dragon's Sword!" Leon exclaimed while he ran forward towards his opponent, a blade of pure acid forming in Leon's hands. Once close to the Salamander, he began to slash expertly, grazing Natsu and his clothing with his blade.

Natsu took heavy exhales every time Leon slashed at him, keeping a rhythm that opposed Leon's so he could dodge. Once he spotted an opening, he swung his leg at Leon's arm, knocking the blade of acid away. Next, Natsu aimed a fiery haymaker towards Leon's skull, but Leon had the same idea and aimed an acid fist towards Natsu's skull; the two attacks collided, creating a shockwave that forced the two slayers back. Fire flared around Natsu's body as he didn't even wait for Leon to move. He rushed towards Leon, spinning in such a motion that would cover a large radius with flames. "Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!"

Upon seeing Natsu rush in, Leon began to spin around in place, acid forming in a protective manner around his person. "Acid Dragon's Swirling Corrosion!" Leon's defense met with Natsu's offense, the two techniques clashing against one another powerfully. This only lasted for about ten seconds before another explosion occurred, this one of too much energy. Natsu and Leon rolled back before hopping up onto their feet, both decently damaged at this point. "Whoa, you're really strong, Natsu!"

"You're pretty tough too…but I'll be taking this win…" Natsu replied with a smirk, standing upright as he tried to slow his breathing.

"Sorry, Salamander, but my guild is depending on me, and I'm not one for letting my guild down. I'm sure you know how that feels, right?" Leon asked as he got into another stance.

"I do…and I'm not letting my guild down either!" Natsu pounded his fist together. "Let's go Leon, give me all you've got!"

"As long as you return the favor…" Leon replied as the area around his person began to tremble. A miniature earthquake occurred as the green aura around Leon's body mixed with a purple one, and his left arm turned a reddish-purple. "Poison Acid mode…"

"A dual mode…!?" Lucy gasped in complete shock.

"Acid and poison…a terrible combination…" Erza thought to herself, watching Natsu with worry. "Be careful, Natsu…"

"Heh…" Natsu showed no fear as Leon entered his dual mode. Natsu's response was a silent, yet loud one. The earth around Natsu began to tremble as his usual fiery aura appeared around his body. Following the fire, lightning began to surround him as the shaking increased, eventually dying down. "Lightning Flame. Let's go!" Natsu placed his right foot on the ground, then blasted forward towards Leon with his fist held back, fire and lightning surrounding his entire arm. "Lightning Flame Dragon's Firing Hammer!"

Leon allowed poison and acid to cover his fist, rushing towards Natsu. "Poison Acid Dragon's Steel Fist!" Leon swung his dual mode arm towards Natsu's, clashing once again with the lightning flame dragon. The two entered a brief stalemate before a shockwave blew them both back, causing them to roll across the ground before picking themselves up.

As soon as Natsu recovered, he jumped into the air, forming a sphere of lightning in one hand and a sphere of fire in the other, bringing them together over his head to create a mixture of the two. "Lightning Flame Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" Natsu threw his arms forward, sending the lightning fire ball hurtling towards Leon like a meteor.

Once again, Leon formed two spheres in his hands, though they were purple and green. "Poison Acid Dragon's Double Poisonous Corroding Missiles!" Leon threw the first beam towards the lightning flame blaze, watching as they exploded on impact. Leon then rushed through the smoke of the explosion, throwing the second towards the airborne Natsu.

"Tch!" Natsu grunted as he visibly had nowhere to go since airborne, so he could only cross his arms. The second beam slammed into the dragon slayer, creating a green and purple smoke cloud. Natsu hit the ground after impact, feeling a little numb and acid burns over his body, but he blocked the pain out quickly after. Leon came forward once again, looking for hand to hand combat. Natsu complied, and the two hopes of Fairy Tail and Black Phoenix entered a seemingly endless struggle. Natsu landed a hit punch on Leon's face, Leon landed a punch to Natsu's sternum; blows were just exchanged between the two and no defense was adopted by either. Eventually, the two made the exact same move, gripping each other by the chest. "Lightning Flame Dragon's Crushing Grip!"

"Poisonous Acid Palm!" Leon exclaimed in time with Natsu. A powerful burst of fire and lightning blew Leon away while a powerful force of poison and acid blew Natsu away, sending the two slayers on opposite sides of what used to be a town.

.

.

"Natsuuu!" Lucy stood up from her seat, watching rather intently.

"He won't be able to keep up for long if that poison gets to him first…" Trinity pointed out.

"Now THIS is a battle!" Jack said while watching the fight intently, showing the most interest in this fight than all the others.

"I must admit…it's quite intense…" Tia said with a nod.

"Place your bets, Knightwalker. The Flames of Emotion or the Acid of Rage…?" Hyde said while turning his head to Knightwalker.

"I don't care who wins…I just want the battle to be other so we can move on…" Knightwalker replied.

"You're no fun…" Hyde chuckled before turning back to the battle.

The hooded female was glued onto the fight like nothing else, not even listening to her male companion's voice. "Come on…"

"Hey! Hey!" The male sighed before giving up. "Alright, fine, fine…"

.

.

Natsu performed an upside down kick towards Leon, aiming for his skull. Leon jumped back in the nick of time, but he wasn't expecting the bolt of lightning to strike him down from the sky, leaving him paralyzed. With this opening, Natsu grinned as he ignited his fist in lightning and flames. "Iron Fist of the Lightning Flame Dragon!" Natsu swung his fist, landing a direct hit on Leon's face, the force sending the Poison Acid Dragon flying back, creating a crevasse in the ground from the sheer force.

It took Leon a bit to recover, but once he did, he hopped up, puffing his cheeks out. "Roar…"

Natsu immediately took notice of the dual roar coming his way. He puffed his own cheeks out, a loud inhalation sound filling the area as the two slayers gathered as much magical energy as they could. "Roar…"

"…Jack. Duck." Tia ordered, immediately hitting the deck after.

"Don't have to tell me twice." Jack replied, already lying down on his stomach.

"Of the Poison Acid Dragon!" Leon threw his head forward, unleashing a massive funnel of poison and acid, cleaving through the ground with ease as it raced towards Natsu.

"Of the Lightning Flame Dragon!" Natsu roared as he threw his head forward, unleashing the funnel of fire and lightning forward. The two roars clashed, creating a massive shockwave that shook the entirety of Clover Town and then some. The two slayers held firm until they could no longer exhale, but by this point the four elements created a catastrophic explosion that engulfed Clover Town, picking up a large amount of wind as a result.

"Eeeppp!" The female shriek while keeping her hand on her robe to keep it from flying off.

"Gah…!" Jack yelped as he used his arm to shield himself from the vicious wind.

"N-Natsu!" Fairy Tail shouted.

"Leon…!" Black Phoenix seemed to shout in unison as well.

When the smoke of the massive explosion cleared, both Leon and Natsu were yards away from each other, obviously heavily damaged. "It's time to end this…!" Natsu roared at the top of his lungs before running forward, pushing himself off the ground head first, now speeding towards Leon. "Lightning Flame Sword Horn!"

Leon crossed his arms as Natsu came forward, spinning around once again, creating a vortex of acid and poison around his body. "Poison Acid Dragon's Swirling Corrosion!" Leon's momentum wasn't strong enough against Natsu's impact, which broke through the corrosion after a brief struggle, and sent Leon tumbling away, motionless on the ground.

"H-Heh…!" Natsu grinned despite the pain and numbing sensations he felt all over his body. He took in heavy breaths. "That…was a great fight…We should fight again sometime Le-…"

Before Natsu could finish, the trembling from before came back, twice as powerful. Leon slowly brought himself up, blood trailing down his head. "I said…I wasn't holding back…." Leon's voice was now in a low tone as green scales appeared all over his body: Dragon Force combined with his Poison Acid mode.

"Now he's in trouble…" Hikaru mumbled to herself.

"Dragon Force…" Laxus scowled slightly at Leon's tenacity. "This kid just doesn't quit…"

"Neither does Natsu!" Happy replied. "He'll pull out a win!"

"Alright! I'll just knock you down again!" Natsu replied to Leon before raising a hand, allowing fire and lightning to flare around it. Natsu slammed his fist into the ground, sending a fountain of fire and lightning towards Leon. Leon kept silent this time, no praise, no wishful thinking. He just darted forward, completely jumping over Natsu's tower of lightning in flames, coating his leg in poison and acid. He swung his leg to the now defending Natsu, but the impact was so great it broke Natsu's guard and sent him tumbling across the dirt. "Gah…!"

"Your time is up…" Leon replied to Natsu while rushing towards him, aiming a plethora of poison acid covered fists towards the Salamander. "I'll show you the true strength of a dragon!"

"Like hell!" Natsu replied as he quickly staggered back up, doing his best to avoid Leon's sudden increase in power. Swaying left to right as all he could do, but he couldn't keep up, so some punches landed, sending him staggering back an extra step. Natsu quickly regained himself and threw a punch towards Leon's face, but Leon ducked with ease and preformed a sweep leg, knocking Natsu's feet from under him. Natsu caught himself on his hands and began to spin around, generating a large amount of fire on them. "Lightning Flame Dragon's Double Claw Strike!" Natsu pushed himself off the ground, now aiming a flaming axe kick towards Leon's head, but Leon blocked this hit. Natsu jumped back with a smirk, but Leon saw it coming. The acid poison dragon leapt to the side, avoiding the bolt of lightning that was going to rain down on him.

"I don't fall for the same tricks twi-!" Leon began, but a second bolt of lightning struck him, throwing him for a loop.

"It's not the same trick!" Natsu replied before pivoting on his heel, landing a fire and lightning infused roundhouse to Leon's head, causing Leon to stagger back a few steps before regaining himself.

"I have a new trick for you…" Leon said in a serious tone before clapping his hands together, creating a purple and green cloud over Natsu's head. "Poison Acid Dragon's Poisonous Acidic Rain."

"Above you!" The hooded female couldn't help but shout, but she covered her mouth almost instantly after saying it.

"Huh…?" Natsu looked up, eyes widened at the large cloud that began to rain poison and acid on him. Natsu ran off, trying to escape the clouds downpour as quickly as he could, letting out an agonizing scream while doing so.

"Natsu…" Lucy clasped her hands together, staring at the screen worriedly.

"Poison Acid Dragon's Steel Fist!" Leon exclaimed while suddenly appearing before Natsu (with the help of his Dragon Force) and returned the favor Natsu gave earlier, landing the direct hit on Natsu's face, sending the hope of Fairy Tail crashing through the remains of two buildings nearby. "I'm not done yet!" Leon replied while opening his mouth, a purple and green sphere forming in his mouth. "Poison Acid Dragon's Wave!" After this exclamation, a large wave of poison and acid launched out of Leon's mouth, double the size of his previous roar. Natsu only just picked himself up, the acid and poison really starting to get to him now despite his attempts to shrug it off. He looked up, only just noticing the incoming wave. It crashed into him, creating a purple and green smoke cloud.

"N-Natsu…" Happy's eyes widened, his paws covering his mouth as he stared in shock.

"Get up, brat!" Makarov urged.

"Come on, Natsu…!" The rest of Fairy Tail managed to shout.

"…Get up…" The female said with a somewhat shaky voice.

"Hm…" the male watched the smoke cloud intently. Was it truly over for Natsu…?

Silence filled the air while the smoke cloud as lingering. A clear decision could not be made while Natsu's status was unknown. A powerful trembling soon took over, and a large tower of fire and lightning rose into the sky, along with Natsu's determined roar. "I'm not finished yet…!"

"There we go!" Sting exclaimed with a grin. "Finish it!"

"I won't let them down again…!" Natsu exclaimed while running forward towards Leon, who met him halfway. Once again, the two entered a close combat struggle, shockwaves exploding every time their attacks hit, loud grunts emitting whenever a hit landed. Everyone was on the edge of their seat as it seemed as though it was anyone's fight. Natsu was now more or less adapted to Leon's movements, which aided him greatly in the tail end of this fight. Natsu ducked Leon's incoming punch, then took the opposing dragon slayer off guard as he brought his head up, slamming it into Leon's shin, causing Leon to stagger back, dizzy from the hit. "It's time to finish this…!" Natsu formed two spheres in his hands, fire and lightning of course. He then spun his body around in a clockwise motion while rushing towards Leon. "Secret Art! Crimson Lotus: Exploding Lightning Blade!" Natsu unleashed a powerful force of flames and lightning, consuming Leon within it. The force created a tremendous repulsive force that pushed Leon away as well. Leon let out a scream of pain as the attack consumed him whole. When it finally died down, Leon was on the ground, out of his Dragon Force and out of Poison Acid mode, but he was fading in and out of consciousness, constantly mumbling.

"I can't…fail them…" Leon tried his best to move, but his body wouldn't allow him. His tenacity was incredible, and kept him from falling unconscious. But despite his efforts he couldn't move. "..You win…"

Natsu took heavy breaths, waiting until he was clear he won to power down, falling onto his stomach, giving a weak smile; the poison and acid finally got to him at the very end. "W-We…really need to fight again sometime, Leon…"

(With Leon's defeat…that means Fairy Tail is the winner of the tournament!) Ola exclaimed throughout the minds of everyone. Fairy Tail immediately erupted in loud cheers.

.

.

"Man…that was intense…" Jack stood up, requipping into his Corvus Armor. "But…now that that's over, we're done here, right?"

"That's right…" Tia gave a slight nod before standing up herself. "A large amount of data has been collected…King will be very pleased with this…"

"Impressive work by Dragneel…" Hyde gave a simple nod, looking over to Knightwalker who he caught hypocritically entranced in the match. "Not interested, huh?"

"I wasn't watching…" Knightwalker immediately replied. "Are we done here? Can we go?"

"Yes, yes…we're going…I need to make the final preparations anyway."

.

.

"That was too close…" The female replied while taking a deep, relieved breath. She accidentally removed her hood while doing so, revealing short snow white hair and azure oculars. "Whoops…" The female quickly placed her hood back on.

"That was excellent…" The male replied while purposely throwing off his robe. He had short blue hair that reached down to his neck, a blue vest covered by a white jacket, black pants and white boots, followed with gray cloves and blue eyes of his own. "I think they're ready."

"W-What?! You're going to go after them now?!" The female asked.

"Relax…I'll let them recover before doing anything…They passed the second test." The male replied before turning around. "Now, I have to see for myself if they're truly ready to take on Dealer…"

"Ace…don't do anything to rash on them…" The female pleaded.

"Don't worry…" Ace waved a dismissive hand. "I won't do anything too far. Now Fairy Tail…White Eclipse…Are you ready to face Black Ace…?"


End file.
